Scorpius Malfoy and the Forbidden Flower
by Idday
Summary: From the unlikeliest of families grew the strongest of friendships. How Scorpius Malfoy found a friendship and a future in the child of his father's foe.
1. Platform Nine and Three Quarters

Disclaimer: **All Harry Potter Characters and Events belong to JK Rowling, not me.**

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><p>Where does any story truly start?<p>

For to have our own stories, we must also be part of the stories of others, the stories to come before and after us.

Their story did not truly start on the train platform that fall morning. It started two decades before that, with a different set of schoolchildren and a rejected offer of friendship. It started even before that with their grandparents, with the cool looks passed between their ancestors. It started even before that with an orphan named Tom, even before that with the founders and the falling out.

For their story to start as it did, thousands of years of history had to form the back-story. But for simplicities sake, we will say that their story did start on that train platform the moment they locked eyes with each other, and now that they have a story, all the other stories, the important stories, become only subplots.

And so their story begins.

He was the miniature of his father, both pale and silver, both cloaked in black, and both staring unashamedly at the rather ragged bunch that had gathered on the other end of the platform.

She, on the other hand, seemed to be the perfect blend of her parents. She had her mother's hair but colored in the cheerful red of her father, she had her mother's face but punctuated with the blue eyes of her father, and all three of them were staring, just as unashamedly, at the small, isolated family staring back.

And for one moment, the children locked eyes, and then it was over just as quickly as it had begun.

But though she had turned back to her big, bustling family, Scorpius kept watching them.

"The Weasley family," his father murmured, "although I suppose Ginny's a Potter now. I should have known that the 'Golden Trio' would end up related to each other." There was something akin to jealousy in his voice.

"Father," Scorpius started, never taking his eyes off the new girl, "Grandfather says that—"

"Never mind what your grandfather said," Draco rebuked him.

"But Father, aren't they blood tra—"

"Stop, Scorpius," Astoria said. "We told you not to discuss those things."

"Potter and I may never have gotten on," Draco told him, "but I owe him my life many times over. Weasley, too, and Granger."

Scorpius looked slightly taken aback at this, for though Draco never took part in the Potter bashings that seemed to take place whenever Lucius visited, and often left the room, neither had he ever defended the Chosen One or his friends before.

"Listen, Scorp," Draco said, kneeling down to his level, "it's going to be hard enough entering Hogwarts as a Malfoy. We're not exactly popular, not these days. Don't make enemies for yourself. I know what your grandfather tells you, but don't antagonize people. I'm not telling you to befriend the Weasleys, but at least stay neutral."

The train gave one last warning whistle, and Draco straightened back up. He extended his hand to his son, who shook it, trying desperately not to look terrified.

"Good Luck, son," Draco said, pausing a moment before suddenly leaning down and pulling his son into a quick, hard embrace. "I love you."

"Write to us when you've settled in," Astoria said, also embracing the boy.

"Bye, Mum," Scorpius muttered, and then he turned, squared his shoulders, and marched onto the train just in time for it to roll slowly away from the station.

And as he caught his last glimpse of the platform, he saw his mother smiling fondly at him and his father give him one last stoic nod, thrown into sharp contrast against the boisterous Weasley bunch, waving and hollering at their own students as the train pulled away.

And suddenly, Scorpius Malfoy felt very alone in the world.


	2. The Hogwarts Express

Everyone was staring at him.

From the second he set foot on the train, the other children stared at him, and whispered, and it took all Scorpius had to keep his face impassive as he searched for an empty compartment.

He knew better than to try the ones with older students and even in the compartments filled with his fellow first years, their cold glares and whispered insults spurred him on.

"_We're not exactly popular,"_ his father had said, and though Scorpius had knew that it was true, he didn't know the full extent of the hatred directed at the Malfoy family.

Finally, he found an empty compartment, and he had just set down the cage with his new owl, Orion, on the floor when the door flew open again, and for the second time that hour, Scorpius Malfoy locked eyes with the Weasley girl.

"Oh," she said breathlessly, tripping over the Hogwarts robes she already had on and barely catching herself on the door frame. She froze then, eyeing him with interest.

"Come on, Rose, you're blocking the corridor," an impatient voice said from behind her, and then another head peeked around the girl and a miniature Harry Potter froze too.

"Oh," he said.

Rose Weasley stepped into the compartment warily, and Potter followed her in.

"Um…" she said, clearly at loss for words, "sorry. This is the only empty compartment we've found. Not that it's empty, it's clearly not. You're here. So…"

Potter tapped her shoulder, and whispered to her in what he clearly considered to be an inaudible voice, "I'm sure we can sit with James. Let's just go, Rose, you know who he is…"

And she whispered back, just as audibly, "we don't want to be rude, Albus! If we leave now, he'll think we have a problem with him! And besides, James already told us we couldn't sit with him!"

"He's a _Malfoy_, Rose; don't you have a problem with that?"

"Look," she said diplomatically, "it's one train ride. Plus… maybe he could use a friend."

Albus threw her a look clearly indicating that the Malfoys didn't deserve friends, but his cousin sat down anyway. He reluctantly followed her lead, although he pointedly sat as near the door, and as far away from Scorpius, as possible.

"Hello," Rose started again, and Scorpius, who had been looking out the window through their whispered exchange, turned his head to look at her. "I'm Rose—"

"Weasley," he finished for her, and then blushed a little. "I saw you on the platform. I'm Scorpius—"

"Malfoy," she finished, just as he had done, and then gave him a small smile. "I saw you, too."

A pregnant silence filled the compartment, broken only by the slight rustling of Orion in his cage and the pointed throat clearing of Rose as she looked towards her cousin, slumped so far away in his seat that his head was practically out the door.

"Albus Potter," he muttered finally, and the silence fell once again.

"So," Rose said finally, clearly tired of the awkwardness, "are you excited for school?"

Scorpius nodded once, but this seemed to be enough for her.

"I am. I've been dying to go ever since I can remember. Teddy used to tell us fantastic stories, and then James went, and he's been teasing us about being too young for years now, and now it's finally my turn! I'm expecting Gryffindor, of course, all the family's been, even mum, and she's the first in her family. Muggle-born, you know…" She stopped suddenly, as though she said far too much, and stared, stricken, in Scorpius' direction.

"I know," Scorpius said. "Father told me."

Rose looked suddenly defensive. "I don't know what your father's told you about my family," she started angrily, but Scorpius interrupted her.

"He only told me she was the best in their year. It was Grandfather who said she was a mud…" He cut himself off suddenly, and took a deep breath before continuing, "Muggle born witch, actually."

"Oh," Rose said, flushing pink. "Sorry."

Scorpius smiled ruefully. "I expect you've heard just as much about my family."

"Death Eaters, the whole lot," Albus spat from his corner.

"Not the whole lot," Scorpius said quietly. "I'm not a Death Eater, and neither was Mother."

Albus scoffed at this, but sat up a little straighter in his seat.

"You'll be expecting Slytherin, then?" Rose asked.

Scorpius nodded again. "Family tradition."

"D'you have a lot of those?" Albus asked, but he sounded more interested than nasty.

"We do," Rose chimed in immediately, "Christmases at the Burrow, and Weasley Sweaters, and backyard Quidditch, and loads more, too."

"Not really," Scorpius said, "just that Grandmother and Grandfather always come for Sunday lunch. Though we'd all rather they didn't, actually. Grandmother's alright, but Grandfather's more… traditional. He has views of the world that Father doesn't really agree with, and Mother always gets angry with him. Grandfather would rather the Dark Lord still be in power."

"And your father wouldn't?" Albus asked, leaning in a bit.

"No," Scorpius said. "He doesn't talk about it much, but I know he's grateful to your father. Your parents, too," he said, turning towards Rose, "for finishing what he couldn't. He was kind of roped into the whole thing, he was young, and both his parents were Death Eaters, and his Aunt… but like I said, he doesn't talk about it much."

The cousins sat in silence again, exchanging sly glances with one another, while Scorpius, embarrassed by his confession, looked out the window at the rapidly passing Scottish countryside.

"Not that it really matters anyway," he muttered, "Everybody already hates me."

Albus looked embarrassed.

"They don't even know you," Rose pointed out, "how could they hate you?"

Scorpius gave a bitter laugh. "They hate me."

"So just prove you're different," Rose said, "because I know you are. And I don't hate you. Neither does Al."

Albus still looked slightly wary, but he nodded his head in agreement nonetheless.

Scorpius felt a sudden flash of affection for these two children, who had been designed to be his enemies but were instead his first friends in this new place, and then the trolley Witch was strolling down the corridor and the rest of the journey passed in comfortable conversation.


	3. The Sorting Hat

If Scorpius had thought that the staring on the train was bad, he was seriously misguided, he decided as he stood with the rest of the first year class outside the Great Hall. Most of his classmates were talking in small clumps, turning frequently to stare at him and pressing themselves as close to the walls as they could.

Even Hagrid, who had come to collect the first years for their boat ride across the Black Lake threw him a snide look when he thought that Scorpius was tending to Orion, a blow made that much worse by the fact that Hagrid had given both Rose and Albus a huge smile and a warm embrace.

Still, at least Rose and Albus were still with him. He had assumed that, as Rose had said, it was only one train ride, and that as soon as the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade station the two would be off to find their own friends, but they had both climbed into the boat with him as if they were longtime friends.

And now they all stood waiting in front of the Great Hall for sorting to start, and Scorpius was feeling more nervous than ever. If the first years hated him, that would be nothing to the bigger and more capable witches and wizards waiting inside the Hall, all of whom would be acutely aware of his family history due to their classes. He took a deep breath to steady himself and nodded at whatever Rose was babbling about, which at the moment was the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall.

_Show no emotion,_ his father had told him the first time that they had been nearly attacked in Diagon Alley by the disgruntled relative of some victim of the Dark Lord. _If they think you don't care, they will leave you alone._ But later that night, Scorpius had heard Draco sobbing in his room and Astoria's gentle, comforting voice, saying over and over "you're different." Still, the emotional distance was wise, and all the Malfoys remained stoic and unfeeling to the public eye. Scorpius would be no different.

And then Professor Longbottom was bursting in through the door and explaining the sorting procedure for those who were still bothering to listen, and then, more disconcertingly, lining the students up in alphabetical order, placing Scorpius right in between Lewis, Catherine and Metcomb, Phillip and separating him from both Rose and Albus.

Rose gave him an encouraging smile as she trotted to the end of the line to stand right behind Walters, Susan, and he was seized by a strong desire to be with her where she would surely be placed in Gryffindor, rather than in Slytherin. At least then he would know somebody. _"Prove you're different,"_ she had said to him on the train, _"because I know you are."_

And as they all marched into the Hall, he withstood the heavy silence by repeating that mantra. _"I know you're different."_ And then it was his mother's voice, too, saying _"you're different"_ over and over again, and Scorpius knew it was true.

His father had been a Slytherin at school, surely, but he had grown and changed and seen horrible things, and the cruel 17 year old boy who had allowed his classmates to be tortured in front of his eyes had been replaced by a wiser man, repentant and determined to be good. That was the man that Scorpius knew, that was the man who had fathered him, and that man was a Slytherin no longer.

And then Scorpius was blinking in shock, because it was Lewis, Catherine's name being called off, and the sleek brown ponytail he had been staring at fastidiously was bouncing up to the stool and being sorted into "HUFFLEPUFF!" and then suddenly Professor Longbottom's voice was booming out "Malfoy, Scorpius," and the cheers from the Hufflepuff table died away suddenly and the whole hall was dead silent.

Scorpius had the odd feeling that he was walking to his own death. Slowly, concentrating only on putting one foot in front of the other and not on the whispers he now heard sweeping the hall, he approached the stool and sat down upon it, under Professor Longbottom's rather disapproving stare.

And then the hat was on his head, and he could hear a voice murmuring in his ear, "A Malfoy, then, didn't think your lot would be coming back. I know where to put you, better be—" And Scorpius, dreading the next word out, could only focus on Rose's voice playing in his head, _"I know you're different." _And then the hat paused, and said, "different, really? Wouldn't have believed it myself, but now that you mention it, I do see something… I cannot know the person you will become, but if you're sure, we'll make it different." The whole hall was staring at him now, and he had the feeling that they were rather disappointed, for surely they had expected the hat to bellow "SLYTHERIN!" even before it had touched his head, but instead, the hat was yelling "GRYFFINDOR!"

Scorpius would have thought that it was impossible for the Great Hall to become any quieter, but it somehow did. Instead of being greeted by roaring cheers from one of the house tables, Scorpius slipped of the stool to complete silence and walked, rather mechanically, to take a seat at the very end of the Gryffindor table, and his fellow first year Barnes, Julia was sliding away, too far to be entirely polite.

Professor Longbottom hadn't called the next name on the list yet, and Scorpius glanced up at the teacher's table. Headmistress McGonagall was looking rather shell-shocked, rest of the teachers looked as if they had been stunned, and Professor Longbottom, still clutching the parchment in his hand, had a small, disbelieving smile on his face, for he was, as Scorpius remembered then, head of Gryffindor House.

Then there was one small clap that broke the silence, coming from the line of still-unsorted first years, and Scorpius scanned down the row of faces, all looking at him incredulously, past Albus, who looked as if he had been hit with a bludger, down to the very end of the row where Weasley, Rose was clapping gleefully and beaming at him.

It was as if a spell had been broken by Rose's applause and the hall suddenly came back to life. Gryffindor Table was cheering, if not wildly, at least respectably, and Professor Longbottom was trying to hide his smile as he shouted "Metcomb, Phillip," and Metcomb approached to be sorted into "RAVENCLAW!"

Scorpius, though, still couldn't quite believe it himself. He looked over at the green-clad Slytherins, where he had been so sure he would belong, and then down the long table at the scarlet-robed Gryffindors, who were suddenly roaring so loudly that Scorpius snapped his head around to see who was about to join him and saw Albus trotting towards him, beaming from ear to ear.

"Maybe Rose is right," he shouted over the cacophony as he sat down beside Scorpius, "Maybe you are different!"

And then, finally, Scorpius laughed.

It was only later, as the new Gryffindors, including, unsurprisingly, Rose, were following their prefect up to Gryffindor Tower that Scorpius realized that the most daunting task was still in front of him.

He had to tell his parents.


	4. Letters Home

_Dear Mother and Father,_

_So we had the sorting on the first day of school. They have this hat, and it… You know that already. Never mind._

_Dear Mother and Father,_

_I know you were expecting me to be sorted into Slytherin just like everybody else in the family has been ever since we can remember, but there was some sort of fluke. No, this makes me sound like a complete freak._

_Dear Mother and Father,_

_Do you think Grandfather was really serious about disowning me if I wasn't the perfect Slytherin? How about if I wasn't a Slytherin at all? Is that better or worse, do you think? Well, obviously, that's worse. What a stupid question._

_Dear Mother and Father,_

_I'm in Gryffindor, and if you don't like that fact, you can just disown me! No, wait, I really don't want you to disown me, I was just joking._

Scorpius sighed and looked at the crumpled drafts of his letters littering the crimson carpet of his new common room. It had been a week since the sorting hat had broken the long line of Malfoy Slytherins, and he still couldn't think of the right way to tell his parents.

Rose was giggling in her chair, reading his last attempt. "Disown you? That's a little passive-aggressive, don't you think?"

Albus plucked the parchment from her hand and chortled as he read it. "More aggressive-aggressive, I'd say."

Scorpius sighed again, "How would you tell your parents if you weren't in Gryffindor?"

Albus stopped laughing. "Like that would ever happen," he scoffed. "Gryffindors through and through, the Potters and the Weasleys both, it would be breaking generations of tradition."

Scorpius shot him a pointed look.

"Oh. Right," Albus mumbled. "Sorry."

"It does happen, Scorp," Rose said comfortingly. "Genealogy is a part of it, to be sure, but it really depends more on the individual. Sirius Black was a Gryffindor, and his whole family was Slytherin."

"I know," Scorpius said, "he was my great-uncle once removed or something."

"Well, nothing bad happened to him."

Scorpius glared at her. "He really _was_ disowned, Rose."

"Actually," Albus said, "I think he ran away. But your point is still valid," he hastened to add, seeing the look on Scorpius' face.

"I think you're making this out to be much worse than it is," Rose remarked. "Your parents will love you no matter what, and you really should at least write to them. I've already written mine twice, and you've not even sent a letter. They must be getting frantic."

As if on cue, an owl tapped at the window, and Albus crossed the room to get the mail.

"It's my Grandfather I'm more worried about, not my parents," Scorpius grumbled to Rose.

"Hey, Scorp, it's for you," Albus called.

"It's from Mother," Scorpius said, taking the neatly printed envelope and looking at the others frantically.

"See," Rose remarked smugly. Scorpius threw her a glare and opened the envelope.

_Dear Scorpius,_

_How's school so far? Your father and I haven't heard from you yet, but we're not sure if this is a good sign or not. Have you made friends? What classes do you like? What teachers are good? _

_The other children aren't being too horrible, are they? I know your father frets about this a great deal, even if he won't admit it._

_I saw the loveliest green socks in Diagon Alley the other day; I'm sending them with a larger owl. I remember how cold it can be down under the lake once winter arrives. _

_I am sorry this didn't come with morning post, but I had thought I still might hear from you today before your grandparents came for lunch and asked about you. Grandfather looked suspicious when I said we hadn't heard from you, so I decided to just go ahead and write. I'm sure your Grandfather is worried that the Potters and Weasleys are trying to turn you, so a few words about what a true Malfoy you are might do wonders for his spirits. On second thought, why don't you tell him that you're best friends with the Potters and Weasleys? A shock might do him a bit of good. Or just finish him off, which would do us all a bit of good. Don't tell your father I said that._

_Keep up with your schoolwork, and please write._

_Father sends all his love, as do I._

_Mother _

"Ironic," Albus remarked dryly. "Granddaddy Dearest's greatest fears come true."

Rose was giggling again. "I think I like your mother," she said. "Just finish him off," she quoted under her breath, laughing again.

Scorpius glared at both of them. "In what way is this remotely funny?"

"It does give you a rather good opening," Albus remarked. "Something like… Dear mum, sorry I haven't been writing, I've been spending too much time with my good friends Albus Potter and Rose Weasley. They're really fabulous; I think I'm spending all my holidays with them so I can de-Malfoy as much as possible. If Grandfather's still breathing, you could try telling him that I'm actually in Gryffindor, and that would probably do the trick. Did they happen to have those socks in red, as well? Although with all the cheery, roaring fires up here, I probably won't need them anyway. Send all my love to Grandfather, assuming he's still alive, and Father too, of course, if he hasn't passed out yet. All my love, your thoroughly Gryffindor son, Scorpius. P.S. Please don't disown me, the Potters and Weasleys can't support me in the lavish lifestyle to which I am accustomed."

"Not at all helpful," Scorpius growled as Rose fell out of her chair, doubled over with laughter.

"Sorry," she said, wiping her streaming eyes. "You really do need to reply to that letter, though, hopefully before she sends the socks…" and she was laughing again, so hard that she was clutching at the chair to stay upright.

"Sorry, sorry," she said again. "I'll help you draft it, if you like."

_Dear Mother,_

_Thank you for your letter. I'm terribly sorry that I haven't been writing much lately, I've been caught up in schoolwork and getting to know my classmates. I'm quite fond of potions, though Professor Longbottom is my favorite teacher, and he instructs herbology. And tell Father that the other children haven't been so bad, especially not with the friends I've made._

_Mother, school is wonderful, though not at all as I've expected it to be, and I would appreciate it if you could break the news to Father, and especially Grandfather, in the gentlest way possible, for though I fully sympathize with your desire to "do in" Lucius Malfoy, Father would probably be unhappy with the both of us._

_I sat on the train with, as Grandfather feared, Rose Weasley and Albus Potter, and after some very genial conversation, we discovered we have a great deal in common and have become quite good friends. Among the things we share is a common room. Neither of them was sorted into Slytherin, that would be most remarkable considering their background, and as I'm sure you've deduced by now, neither was I, also most remarkable. We are all Gryffindors. _

_I'm aware that this is unconventional, to say the least, but I am very happy here and I hope that you and Father can accept this. Grandfather will be the bigger challenge, I think. _

_Anyway, as Albus pointed out, perhaps it would be better for you to send socks in red, instead of green?_

_Give my love to Grandfather (but not too much of it) and give the rest to Father._

_Love, _

_Scorpius_

"There," Scorpius said, finally setting his quill down. "What do you think?"

"I think it sounds as if an eighty-year-old wrote it, not an eleven-year-old, but if that's how you normally write, then it's good," said Albus. "Are you sure you don't want the postscript about disowning, though? I thought it added a nice touch."

"It's perfect," Rose said, pointedly ignoring her cousin. "Send it out with the post tomorrow morning."

And as Scorpius fell asleep in his red-hung bed, he felt a little better about the whole thing.


	5. A History of Magic

**I would just like to thank you all for your support of the story so far. I love writing, and I like to think that I would do it either way, but it's incredibly gratifying to know that I have some sort of audience. Thank you all for reading, and your reviews inspire me to write even faster.**

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><p>History of Magic was a dreadful class.<p>

It was bad enough on a normal day, with Professor Binns, who, unlike most of the other teachers from his father's days at school, was still teaching (unfortunately), droning on about Goblin Raids or Riots or Rebellions or something like that.

But on this particular day, a dreary Wednesday in mid-November, Scorpius Malfoy was convinced that he had never been so miserable in a classroom in his, admittedly short, life.

"The Second Wizarding War," Professor Binns began, sounding like he was reciting the dictionary rather than discussing a major event that had shaped the lives of all the students around him, "was the final fight between the so called 'Dark Lord,' Voldemort, and the so called 'Chosen One,' Harry Potter."

Scorpius slid his eyes over to his left, where Albus had been doodling on his notes, and saw him suddenly freeze.

"The War, except for various underground movements, began and ended with the Battle of Hogwarts, which involved Voldemort and his various followers, including giants, acromantulas, and Death Eaters, who were mostly made up of members of pure blooded wizarding families including the Lestranges and the Malfoys, against Harry Potter and his followers, including Hogwarts staff, members of the Order of the Phoenix, and former Hogwarts students, including most especially Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood."

Scorpius slid his eyes over to his right and saw that Rose was flushed a light pink.

If Professor Binns cared, or was even aware, that he had just drawn all the attention in the room to the three Gryffindors at their table in the front, he showed no sign of it. He simply lectured on about Goblin and Elf involvement during the Second Wizarding War. Scorpius, who was sure that this was the first time in the two months since school had started that anyone, except perhaps Rose, was paying attention during History of Magic, became acutely aware of the dozens of pairs of eyes fixed on Albus, Rose, and himself.

"Muggle born witches and wizards were especially despised under Voldemort's reign," Professor Binns was saying now, oblivious to the fact that the eyes of his students were focused on their embarrassed classmates and not on himself. "Hermione Granger, perhaps the most famous muggle born witch of the time and a member of the Golden Trio, was famously tortured in the drawing room at Malfoy Manor by Bellatrix Lestrange due to her status as what was derogatorily termed 'a Mudblood.'"

Scorpius slid his eyes to Rose again, who looked both shocked and nauseous; he guessed that her parents had withheld this bit of information from her.

He was tempted to reach over and give her trembling hand a reassuring squeeze, but then she slid her gaze over to him, as well, and it was filled with revulsion. She looked back down at her hands, and slid her seat away from Scorpius by two or three inches.

Professor Binns was wheezing on about the Horcruxes now, and though Scorpius knew he should pay attention to the first History lesson that was finally applicable to him, he only focused on the alarming amount of times he heard the names "Malfoy," "Weasley," "Granger," and "Potter."

Scorpius struggled to keep his breathing even and stare blankly down at the parchment on his desk, but he felt as if the whole classroom could see his shame. Albus kept clenching and unclenching his fists, and Rose looked as if she might burst into tears.

And then finally, _finally, _the awful lesson was over, Professor Binns was wheezing out their homework assignment, and his classmates were gathering up their things and fleeing to the hall, whispering amongst themselves.

Scorpius wanted to say something, but he didn't know what it could possibly be, and then Rose and Albus were joining the throng of students in the corridor, leaving Scorpius standing by himself.

For the first time, he had been left behind.


	6. The Drawing Room

Scorpius stood breathlessly outside the closed doors between him and the infamous Drawing Room.

In the days following the disastrous History of Magic Class, he couldn't help but to think of the room at home, and now that he was home for the Christmas holidays, he didn't think he could resist going inside. He had never been in it, nor could he remember anyone else ever having been in it. It had been locked off from the rest of the Manor since before he was born, but Scorpius had never known why, just that the one time he had tried the handle, when he was five and had gotten thoroughly bored with the rest of the house, his father had scolded him. He hadn't gone near it since.

He didn't know what he expected to find in the mysterious room, really. Surely it couldn't repair his fractured friendships with Rose or Albus. Though the two of them hadn't been rude to him, exactly, their frosty politeness was almost worse than outright hatred. They were still acquaintances; they still sat in class together and did homework together, Scorpius helping the cousins with potions and Rose helping Scorpius and Albus with almost everything else, but their easy friendship had been replaced by short sentences and sly glances. There were still moments when everything had felt as natural as it had since the train, but without failure, every time things started to feel _normal _again, Rose or Albus had caught themselves and slid back into their icy facades.

So now, Scorpius stood outside the room that held no answers for him. He knew this, and yet, somehow, he felt connected to them here. The Weasleys and the Potters did not run in the same circles as the Malfoys, and yet here, a Weasley, a Potter, and a Malfoy had all been in the same room, at the same time.

Scorpius pulled out his wand, a bit guiltily, since he was forbidden to use magic at home, but he knew that his magic was indistinguishable from either of his parents', so he pointed it at the lock and whispered, "Alohomora."

He reached out a shaking hand, and tested the knob.

Locked.

He wasn't surprised. Obviously, his father wanted to make sure this room stayed locked, and his magical abilities far surpassed those of a wizard who had not yet completed even one year of magical training.

Still, Scorpius was undeterred.

He pulled the small hairpin he had snuck out of his mother's room out of his pocket, inserted it in the lock, and jiggled it.

He had learned this particular trick from Rose back in September, when she and Albus had snatched their cousin Victoire's diary. The dairy also had a lock, similarly impervious to the unlocking spell. Rose had learned the hairpin trick from Albus, who had learned it from James, who had learned it from their other cousin, Fred, who had learned it from his father, George. It was then that Scorpius had seen the advantage of a large family.

Now, though, Scorpius wasn't entirely sure that he was doing it right, as nothing seemed to be happening. Just as he sighed in defeat and pulled the hairpin from the lock, he heard a faint "_click."_

Heart pounding in excitement, Scorpius tested the knob again.

The door swung open with a large creaking sound, and Scorpius froze, sure that he had been heard. He heard no footsteps, though, no voices, so he exhaled slowly and slipped inside the room.

It had clearly been locked since the day the Golden Trio had escaped, or close to it. A thick layer of dust covered the furniture, more swam in the air, and Scorpius choked on his first breath of the dank, musty air. Although the outside of the windows had been cleaned with the rest of the house, the insides were still caked with two decades of grime, making the already little light of the snowy, overcast day nearly useless. A large chandelier, most of its crystals shattered, still lay in the middle of the room, next to a dark splotch of what looked horribly like blood. Scorpius realized that he had been treading on the chandelier's broken glass ever since he entered the room, and when he moved, he was horribly conscious of its muffled crunching sounds.

Scorpius tried to imagine Rose's mother, whom he had only seen for a few moments at the train platform, twenty years younger, writhing and screaming on the floor under his Great-Aunt's curse. Was her future husband there, watching? Her best friend? Had they even been there? He had never met Bellatrix, and had only a few hazy memories of the pictures his grandfather had shown him before his father found out. Still, he mentally inserted a tall, black-haired woman into the picture, standing over Rose's mother with her wand drawn. Had she, Bellatrix, enjoyed the torture? Had she laughed? Had she been stoically silent, only doing her duty without conviction? Next he inserted his grandparents into the picture. Scorpius was certain his grandmother had felt some sort of remorse, but had she? Had his grandfather? And finally—Scorpius gulped—his father. Had he cringed from the scene? Had he resisted, had he wished he could help? Or had he stood by, laughing, perhaps, at the thought of his old enemies torn apart by pain, one physically, the others psychologically. Had he cared?

Scorpius sat suddenly in an overstuffed armchair with a small poof of dust, trying desperately to erase the picture out of his mind.

No wonder everyone hated them. No wonder Rose had shied away from them, and Albus. He hated them, he hated his family, he hated himself.

"Scorpius?"

He looked up at the tall figure framed in the doorway with a sinking heart.

"Fa-father," he stammered.

Draco walked towards him, slowly, drinking in the sight of the drawing room. He opened his mouth, and Scorpius sat, abashed, waiting for his punishment.

But Draco only said, "It's been so long since I've seen this room." He looked suddenly very pale and very weak.

"Why did you lock it up?" Scorpius asked suddenly, surprised at his own words, for he had intended an apology for intruding.

"Because I was weak," Draco said softly, sitting in the chair next to Scorpius' and setting off a similar dust cloud. "Because I couldn't bear to stare at the evidence of my own treachery every day. Because I didn't want to be reminded of how I let good people suffer, aided it, even. Why did you open the door?"

"Because I had to see. We learned about it… in History of Magic. And I had to see for myself."

Draco nodded, mutely. "That must have been a difficult lesson for you."

Scorpius avoided his eyes. "Rose and Albus, they… well, they didn't know. And they've sort of been… distant. Polite. Like they hadn't believed that the stories were true, and now it's too late to not be my friend, and it would be rude to stop being my friend, so now they're just… polite."

Draco nodded, again. "I'm so sorry, Scorpius. It's not fair for any of you to get dragged into this, it all happened so long ago…"

"Tell me about Great-Aunt Bellatrix," Scorpius demanded. "I've met everyone else, but I don't know anything about her."

"You wouldn't want to meet her, Scorpius," Draco said, looking as though he had eaten something rotten. "I was more terrified of her than Father growing up, and that's saying something."

"I still want to know."

"She was… childish, in many ways. She followed the Dark Lord with childish adoration and complete, blind devotion. She was prone to tantrums and she tortured for the fun of it, like a small child playing with her toys. She only killed when she got bored with her little game. But she was sadistic, too, she loved watching other people's pain, both through actual torture and the grief caused when she tortured or killed others. She laughed. She was not a person that I'm proud to call family, though I could say that for many others, as well."

"Father?"

"Yes, Scorpius."

"I'm proud to call you family."

Draco smiled, softly. "Thank you, Scorpius. That means the world to me. But I didn't come down to entertain you with stories about our lurid family history."

Scorpius sank lower in his seat.

"I didn't come down here to scold you, either, though you should have asked to open the door. How did you, anyway?"

Scorpius guiltily held up the hairpin.

"I obviously didn't consider that option when I sealed the door. But back to the real reason I came looking for you." He held out a letter. "This just came by owl, and if I'm not mistaken, it is from one Miss Rose Weasley."

Scorpius snatched the envelope out of his father's hand and read the address hungrily, drinking in the familiar lilt of Rose's neat letters. "Thanks, Father," he breathed.

Draco let out a chuckle as Scorpius bolted from the room. "Scorpius," he called after him, "return that hairpin to your mother!"


	7. A Christmas Letter

_Dear Scorpius,_ the letter started. Of course, the first time he had read it, he wasn't sure why she had sent him a letter at all, but now he had read it so many times that he had it practically memorized. And that was how it started.

_Dear Scorpius,_

_How are you? It seems a bit odd, my asking you that when we only saw each other a couple of days ago, but the thing is, we didn't really __see__ each other._

_**Well of course you actually saw him, Rose, don't be daft. Hey Scorp. Good hols?**_

_Oh. And Albus is here, too. We're not actually at home; we're at the Burrow, which is my grandma's and grandpa's place. It's nice being with family, but it's also rather ghastly, because there's about fifty of us crammed in a house that only held nine, originally. I'm in Aunt Ginny's old room with all the girl cousins, and there's seven of us. Thank Merlin mum's good at expansion spells, or we would have been eating on the lawn._

_**In the snow.**_

_Right. Anyway, before Albus interrupted, I was going to apologize. I realized that the way I've, actually, we've, been treating you lately hasn't been exactly fair. After all, we did promise that we thought you were different, and then at the first sign of troubles, we turned tail and ran. So anyway, sorry._

_The thing is, though, that it all took me a bit by surprise. They never told me, you see. I mean, they told me about the Horcruxes, and Voldemort, and all of that, but not… you know. The drawing room._

_**Just out of curiosity, mate, do you like spend Christmas in there and stuff?**_

_Albus! Just ignore him. He keeps stealing the parchment from me. But I just hexed him, so all's well. Having my mum for a mum can sure come in handy. Plus the fact that Aunt Ginny taught me the bat-bogey hex. But, like I was saying, I hadn't known that, and it sort of surprised me. And even though I know that your dad's different now, I kept seeing him just standing there and watching mum hurt. And then suddenly, in my head, it was me being hurt, and you just standing there, watching. And even though I know that that doesn't really make sense, and certainly isn't very fair to you, the two kept being associated in my head. So sorry for that. Can we just… start over? Maybe? When we see each other again, of course. _

_The funny thing is, it was mum and dad who made me see how stupid I was being. And Albus' parents, too, of course, but since his snot is currently attacking him, he's a little preoccupied at the moment and can't be bothered to affirm this fact. _

_Anyway, our parents gave us a good talking to when we told them that we weren't really friends anymore and why. Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry doing it didn't surprise me much, Uncle Harry's sort of always been the forgive and forget type—_

_**I don't know where you're getting your information, Rose Weasley, but it's faulty. I still don't think he's forgiven James and me for taking his invisibility cloak that day, and that was nearly four years ago.**_

_Yes, Albus, but then you stole. Plus, they couldn't find you, and they were frantic. You didn't come out 'til Aunt Ginny set dinner out. Now you're only being a prat. Anyway, Scorpius, Aunt Ginny only knew your father sort of vaguely, and even though he and Uncle Harry weren't exactly the best of friends, they're all about love and friendship, so they set Albus straight right quick._

_I was actually more surprised that my mum and dad took an interest. I didn't think mum could get mad at me about the Drawing Room, but she did._

"_Rose Weasley," she said. She didn't really yell, but her hair was looking bigger than usual, and her lips were sort of pursed up. That always means she's angry, and if anyone thinks Aunt Ginny's bat-bogey hexes are bad, they haven't seen mum in a tizzy. "What happened between us and Draco twenty years ago should have absolutely no impact on your friendship with Scorpius. You chose him as a friend knowing full well who he was, and you simply cannot back out now. It's just not fair." She has always been really big on the fairness thing. You don't have house-elves, do you? She'd be over the moon if I told her you didn't have house-elves. _

_Even though I was a bit surprised that mum was so adamant about it (no offense,) it was dad who really surprised me._

"_Merlin, Rosie, you know how it is to be overshadowed by family. Do you think he likes it?" As much as dad doesn't want to admit it, I think he sort of identifies with you. Not that he doesn't like you, of course. He's never met you. But I think he really is rather impressed that you're in Gryffindor. How are your parents taking that, by the way, now that you're really there?_

_**Actually, Rose, I think maybe Uncle Ron just agreed for your mum. They have been a bit odd since Uncle George bewitched that sprig of mistletoe to follow them around all day and Aunt Hermione let him keep all his limbs attached to his body.**_

_Honestly. They're like newlyweds. Hugo says it's been hell living with them lately, and I sympathize. I've only been around them for three days, and if I walk in on them snogging one more time… they're almost as bad as Teddy and Victoire. _

_Anyway, Scorp, I'm not trying to make it sound as if I (we) only wrote this letter because our parents told us to. I knew it was wrong all along to associate you with the man your father was twenty years ago, I just had to be told it. Does that make sense?_

_**No.**_

_I really hope that you forgive us, Scorp, and that your holidays are just as happy (although perhaps not quite as crowded) as ours have been. Gifts are coming in a later post. See you at school, unless you're not too irritated with this epic letter and decide to write back. Not that I care either way, really, because we'll see you soon!_

_**She cares.**_

_Shut up, Albus._

_Happy Holidays!_

_Love, Rose_

_**And Albus. But you can scratch the love part.**_

_**P.S. You better have gotten us gifts, Malfoy, and good ones too. What's the use of having elite, wealthy friends if I don't get anything out of it? Consider yourself warned.**_

_He's joking. You really don't have to._

_**That's what she thinks.**_

Scorpius was quite sure that he had never read anything so glorious in all his life.

It wasn't just the fact that he had laughed, really laughed, for the first time in months, imagining Rose, flushed with anger, cursing her cousin.

It wasn't just that all the family antics made him somehow feel that he belonged, too.

It wasn't even that the same letter that had begun _Dear Scorpius _had ended _Love, Rose._

It was the fact that they had apologized, and the fact that he was more than ready to forgive them, and the fact that when they all went back to Hogwarts, he would have his friends again.

And so, still chuckling, Scorpius picked up his quill to respond.


	8. Spring News

**ctc pointed out to me that I had pretty obvious, stupid typo towards the end of this one, so I'm reposting. **

**If you notice any typos anywhere else, please pm me and let me know, and I'll fix those, too!**

* * *

><p>It was the middle of March when he heard the news, a grey, dreary day somewhere in between bitter winter and gentle spring.<p>

They were in potions class, the three of them all huddled around one cauldron.

"Excellent work, Mr. Malfoy, Miss Weasley. A nearly perfect Forgetfulness Potion!" Professor Chase said just as the door swung open to admit Headmistress McGonagall.

"Hey, what about me?" Albus protested, still staring rather dreamily at Professor Chase, who was rather young and quite pretty.

"Sorry, Mr. Potter," she said with a small smile. "Perhaps you would like to test it, then?" She filled a small flask with the potion and handed it to Albus, who drank it down.

His eyes glazed over. "Wait… where am I?" He said, a bit dazedly.

While Scorpius's classmates laughed heartily, Professor McGonagall crossed the room briskly and whispered in Professor Chase's ear. Professor Chase paled a bit, nodded, and the headmistress turned and said sharply, "Mr. Malfoy. Come with me, if you please."

Scorpius exchanged a confused glance with Rose, and slowly packed his bag.

"Good Luck," she whispered to him, looking as if she thought they might never see each other again.

Scorpius followed Professor McGonagall's black robed figure out of the potions classroom and down the corridor, but he had no idea where they were going, or why he was following her.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you out of class," she said over her shoulder, still walking briskly.

Scorpius cleared his throat softly and willed his voice not to tremble. "Yes, ma'am." Were they going to expel him? Had he done something wrong?

"Normally, I would tell you, but I think this is a matter better left between you and your family." Had his grandfather finally had enough? Was he withdrawing Scorpius from Hogwarts? Scorpius could feel his heart pounding as he hurried to keep up with the headmistress.

Finally, she stopped in front of a large stone gargoyle. "Felis Catus," she said to it, and suddenly the gargoyle moved aside to reveal a large stone staircase, spiraling slowly upwards.

Professor McGonagall stepped onto it, and Scorpius followed her hesitantly, still wondering exactly how much trouble he was in, and for what.

But when they had reached the top of the staircase, and the door swung open, it wasn't expulsion staring him in the face.

It was his parents.

They both stood up when Scorpius entered. Astoria was without her gentle smile, looking more serious than Scorpius had ever seen her look. Draco's eyes were strangely blank, and they looked slightly red-rimmed.

Draco cleared his throat. "Scorpius," he said, and his voice sounded scratchy and hoarse.

Scorpius still wasn't entirely sure he was not in trouble until his mother opened her arms, and he stepped forward into her warm, familiar embrace. He was vaguely aware of Professor McGonagall stepping out of the room and softly closing the door.

"Scorpius," Draco said again, "I'm afraid we have some bad news."

His mother pushed him gently down into the chair she had just vacated and went to stand beside his father, taking his hand in one of hers and rubbing his shoulder with the other.

Draco took a deep breath, closing his eyes and leaning slightly into his wife, as if drawing strength from her touch.

"It's your grandfather," he said after a long, tense moment. "He's dead."

Scorpius wasn't entirely sure what they expected his reaction to be. Lucius Malfoy had been a strong presence in his descendant's lives, giving advice both where it was and where it wasn't warranted. He had always terrified Scorpius, and Scorpius had rather thought that he terrified Draco too, yet Scorpius had hazy memories of sitting on his grandfather's lap and playing with his walking stick. As dominating a presence as he had been, he had always been a presence, always there at Christmases, birthdays, and every Sunday afternoon.

"I'm sorry, father," he said finally, for Draco was clearly more upset than either Astoria or Scorpius.

"Thank you," he said softly. "I know it may not seem like a great loss, perhaps it isn't, in the long run, but… he was still my father," he ended, his face crumpling slightly.

"Shh, love, I know," Astoria whispered, turning and embracing him. "We'll all miss him."

Draco hugged his wife tighter for a moment longer while Scorpius sat awkwardly, looking idly at anything but his parents.

Astoria pulled back then, and said, "We should go; your grandmother needs our support right now." Though she was clearly speaking to Scorpius, she didn't tear her dark eyes from Draco's grey ones. He nodded, sharply.

"We just wanted to tell you before you found out from one of your classmates," he said, "but we do need to go. Keep up your good grades, Scorp; we'll see you in June." He gave his son a small smile and a quick embrace before pulling back and straightening his robes.

"Your grandmother decided that the funeral will be private, just us. You aren't expected to be there, with final exams coming up." Astoria added, with a hug, "We'll be waiting at the platform for you at the end of the year. We love you."

And then they were both gone, down the stone staircase, and Scorpius was sitting alone in the headmistress's office, entirely unsure of his own feelings.

It was nearly nightfall when she found him up on the astronomy tower.

"Scorpius?" Her voice was soft, and hesitant. He turned to look at her, and her face was hesitant, too.

"We've been looking everywhere for you."

"I've been here."

She came up to sit beside him on the stone step.

"You missed dinner," she reminded him, holding out a roll and a piece of treacle tart. "Sorry, this was all I could get, Albus ate the rest."

"What, all of it?" Scorpius said, but he took the food gratefully.

She waited beside him until he finished eating.

"Scorpius?"

"Rose?"

She grinned, and pushed his shoulder playfully. "Are you in a terrible amount of trouble?"

He shook his head.

"Any trouble?"

He shook his head again.

"Did you get an award or something?"

Another head shake.

"Scorpius," she said firmly, clearly annoyed with his elusiveness. "Would you care to tell your best friend why exactly the Headmistress herself pulled you from potions class and you didn't return for the rest of the day?"

He glanced at her, monitoring her reaction closely. Her wide, earnest blue eyes were laced with annoyance.

"It was my parents, actually. They came to tell me that my grandfather has died."

He had half expected her to whoop with joy, but she just looked at him sadly. "Oh, Scorpius," she breathed, "I'm so sorry."

"Really?" He asked her curiously, "Why? He wasn't the most pleasant of men. Even mother disliked him, and she likes everybody."

"I know how I'd feel if my grandpa died," she whispered.

"He wasn't exactly the cheerful, loving patriarch," he reminded her, but her blue eyes were already pooling with tears. "Don't cry, Rose, I'm not crying. I'm more worried for grandmother and father than I am for me."

"But _I'm_ worried for you," she said, lacing her hand through his.

And suddenly he had snapped, collapsed into her arms. "Everyone hated him," he choked, trying desperately not to cry, "but he was still my grandfather. He was still family."

"Shh," she said, stroking his white-blond head, "I know."

For a moment, Scorpius was suspended in a strange parallel universe, both reminded strongly of his own parents mere hours earlier and living entirely in his own world.

But then she was hugging him tighter, his head was nestled into her shoulder, and the wild curls of her vibrant hair were forming a sort of curtain around them, protecting them from the rest of the world. He took deep, shuddering breaths to calm himself, and the smell of roses filled his nostrils, and then he was laughing and crying at the same time, and she pulled back, startled.

"Sorry," he muttered, wiping his eyes, "but don't you think it's a little cliché for you to actually smell like roses?"

She blushed a little, and smoothed her unruly hair with both hands, but then she caught his eyes, and suddenly, they were both laughing, clinging to each other and absolutely howling with laughter, just two friends in the crisp air of an almost-spring night.


	9. Final Exams

The rest of the spring passed in one great rush, as if a fast forward button had been hit on Scorpius' life. The one thing that remained entirely certain, it seemed, was the prospect of his first set of final exams looming large in the future.

Hogwarts students all seemed to have different ways of dealing with the tension that the impending tests thrust upon them.

Most of the older year students, having already taken exams at least once, studied casually in their common rooms at night, chatting with each other all the while. Only the harried fifth and seventh years, about to take the OWLS and NEWTS, seemed to match the first years in their frenzied studying.

Some older students, though, as Scorpius quickly learned, liked to use frightened first years as both literal and emotional punching bags to relieve their stress.

"Oi, Malfoy," he heard a voice call one night. "I heard about your grandfather." Scorpius turned to see Avery Collins, third year, bellowing at him across the common room. Collins sat with a circle of his own friends, among whom was James Potter, Albus' older brother.

Scorpius set his jaw, and turned back to Albus and Rose, both of whom were looking at him with concern.

"Watch out for Collins, mate," Albus muttered to him. "He's James' best friend, and oldest. I've known him since I can remember. He's not a bad bloke most of the time, but if he doesn't like you, he'll make your life hell."

"He has no reason not to like me," Scorpius muttered back through clenched teeth, trying desperately to ignore the sniggering third years and concentrate on Transfiguration, in which he was struggling. "I've never even met him."

"I know, but his uncle was killed in the war," Albus said, with a meaningful look. Even without details, the significance was clear. Scorpius wondered rather morbidly whether it was Lucius or Bellatrix that had done this uncle in.

"Decided to do the world a favor and finally snuff it, eh?" Collins was calling now. Most of his friends were snickering behind him, patting him on the back and giving encouragement, but James was looking uneasily at Scorpius, obviously uncomfortable that both his brother and his cousin were glaring at him.

Scorpius turned back to transfiguration again. "Just ignore him," he said, since Albus's hands were clenched and Rose looked like she wanted to spit fire. "I always do."

But Rose had already shoved her own essay aside and stridden across the room, and now she was standing in front of Collins with her feet planted and her hands on her hips.

"I don't like your tone, Avery Collins," she said, in a voice that was deathly quiet and filled with malice.

"What's it to you, Weasley," he shot back.

"Doesn't your mum work at the Ministry, Collins?" Rose asked, still speaking in a voice that, while barely above a whisper, carried to Scorpius all the way across the room. Perhaps that was because the common room had gone silent the moment she had stalked over to confront Collins. "With Draco Malfoy?"

Collins was starting to look uneasy. "Yeah, so?"

"Rose," James started quietly, but she spun on him, throwing him a withering look that clearly indicated that she considered him an insect of the nastiest sort and was seriously considering smashing him.

"Not a word, Potter," she spat, "Or I'll owl your mum about all this, and you'll be in for the flogging of a lifetime when you get home. Not to mention what _my _mum'll do to you. They're both rather fond of Scorpius." Scorpius himself knew that this was something of an overstatement, for while both Rose's and Albus's mums had stood up for him to their own children, they had yet to actually meet him. Still, James sunk back in his seat, chastised, and Rose turned back to Collins as if her cousin didn't exist.

"So," she continued, "She's rather fond of him, as a colleague. And she loves Astoria Malfoy, too, I think. That's what she was saying last year, at least, after the garden party Astoria threw. I don't think she would be entirely happy to learn that, not only are you mocking Draco's father's death, for which he's grieving, but you are also tormenting his son."

Collins had stood now, and was glaring down at Rose, for he was almost two heads taller than she was. "Yeah? And how's she going to find out, Weasley?"

Scorpius was torn between wanting to avert his eyes from what was sure to be a total disaster and being unable to look away.

If Rose was intimidated by the much larger boy, she didn't show it. She merely took a step forward, so they were nose to chest, stared him straight in the eye, and said, "She was always prodigiously fond of me when she saw me at the Potter's, Collins. I really don't think she'd mind a letter from the little girl who always admired her so as an outstanding role model." She shot him a winning grin, turned, and flounced away, patting James on the head as she went.

"Merlin, Rosie," Al breathed after she sat back down. "That was amazing! He's still flabbergasted that a tiny first year could tell him off like that. Either that, or he's still trying to figure out what 'prodigiously' means. With a face like that, it's hard to tell." The three of them swiveled as one, looking back over at Collins, who did indeed look as if he should be scratching his head in confusion.

"Yes, well," Rose said breezily, "something had to be done, hadn't it? Proof my essay, Scorp?" And the subject was dropped.

Rose herself went from frantically studying one minute, and berating the boys for not doing the same, to joining them the next for a game of Wizard's Chess (which Scorpius always won) or Exploding Snap.

"It's her parents," Albus said to Scorpius in a low voice one night, as they watched her frantically read through her color coded notes a table over. "They're warring inside her."

The night before, she had heaped all those same notes into one messy stack, saying "Bugger Charms," and joining Albus and Scorpius for a game of Chess. She might have done the same this evening, if the very beautiful and highly intimidating Victoire Weasley hadn't walked by as they were setting out the chess board and said, rather distractedly, for she was reading a letter, "Hello Rose, Albus. Rose, I'd thought you'd be studying." Rose had sat up with a start, flushed deep red, said "I'm so _stupid_!" and rushed off to reorganize her notes.

"This is her mum," Albus was saying now, jerking a chin in Rose's direction, for she was now thumbing wildly through her massive Transfiguration book. "She's saying," and here, Albus adopted a very high and squeaky voice, "don't you want to do well, Rose? Don't you want to succeed? You know you should have been studying for months now, only four weeks left, you mustn't slack off now. What would become of you if you weren't top of the class?" Albus broke off with a cough; evidentially the screeching falsetto was difficult for him to sustain. "Sometimes, though," he went on in his normal voice," it's her dad." Now he switched to a deep, ringing bass voice, "Why study, Rosie? You don't need to, especially not with brains like yours. You could ace those exams with half your brain tied behind your back. You have much better things to do than _schoolwork._"

"You're exaggerating," Scorpius said, laughing at Al's antics. Rose shot him a glare, for apparently their joviality was disturbing her quiet.

"Maybe a bit," Al admitted, his voice hoarse from his playacting. "But that's pretty much how they see it. And they do have loads of rows, dead useful for entertainment, really."

"They argue?" Scorpius said, a bit shocked. Somehow he had always imagined that the Golden Trio's lives would be perfect, full of sunshine and rainbows, and even the occasional daisy, but certainly not marital strife.

"Yeah," Albus said, "But not because they actually disagree on anything, or are irritated by each other, or anything like that. They're actually disgustingly in love, they snog all the time." He made a small face, for he clearly didn't think that married couples should be snogging, especially not where others might _see_ them. Scorpius was rather inclined to agree with him; he had never actually seen his parents do what might be described as 'snogging,' but the idea rather disgusted him. "That's the only reason they argue, I suspect," Albus said with a cheeky grin. "I think they like _making up." _He elbowed Scorpius in the ribs meaningfully.

"If you two can't shut up," Rose hissed, whirling on them, her hair crazier than ever and her cheeks flushed, "will you kindly take your _highly intellectual discussion _somewhere else?"

Albus, too, studied in spurts, but never with the intensity that Rose did. It was more like he always _knew_ that he should be studying, but could rarely work up the energy to do so.

For his part, Scorpius mostly studied when Rose did, joined occasionally by Albus, for he had found it much more enjoyable to study with a friend. He felt fairly confident in all his subject matters, especially with Rose's help, and was never unhappy when her sudden ardor for a subject died away and she proposed a night off.

And then, just as quickly as early spring had passed, late spring had passed too, the exams were over, they had all passed (Scorpius with grades just trailing Rose's, who had achieved top of the class, to no one's surprise, Albus with marks that were decent enough to take home to his parents and be sure that they wouldn't be disappointed), and the last weeks of school were upon them, spent lounging in the common room or along the banks of the Black Lake, and then the train was there to take him home, and Scorpius realized with a jolt that he would see neither Rose nor Albus for almost three months.

"It's been a good year, hasn't it," Rose sighed as she sat with the two boys in the same compartment they had sat in on the first day of school.

They both murmured their assent, since the trolley witch had just passed and they were all entering the delightfully drowsy state that comes with warm air and good food.

And then the train was actually pulling into the station, and Scorpius saw his parents, standing a little ways off to the side, and the Potter-Weasley clan, large and raucous as usual.

And then they had climbed off the train, Scorpius clutching Orion's cage in one hand, and he was being welcomed home with hugs from both his mother and his father, and over their shoulders, he saw that Rose and Albus were receiving the same treatment.

Draco had the trunk, then, and with Scorpius still clutching his owl, they made to depart through the barrier back to King's Cross Station.

"Scorpius, wait!"

He turned, to see Rose escaping the arms of one red-haired relative only to be pulled into the embrace of another. She shot him a comic glance, clearly indicating that as much as she would like to run to him, it was simply impossible.

"Scorpius?" It was his mother's voice now, soft in his ear, but he couldn't tear his eyes from Rose. "We have a dinner engagement with your grandmother," she reminded him, "we shouldn't be late."

And just as Scorpius was turning in resignation, Rose finally broke free, ran to him, and threw her arms around him. "Write to me," she whispered in his ear, just as he returned her embrace, and then she was backing away from him, giving him one last cheerful wave as she turned to her family.

He turned back to his parents, both of whom were looking at him with a rather odd expression, somewhere between pride and disapproval. "Ready?" Draco asked him.

Scorpius nodded, still smiling at the memory of Rose's hug. "I'm ready."


	10. Introductions

**This is the first of the Second Year chapters. I'm not sure yet how many there will be per year, since I'm still writing as the inspiration strikes and posting immediately, but I would give a tenative guess at eight or nine, which is how many First Year chapters there are.**

**This is also the longest chapter yet, and it is a little slower than the others, but as I'm planning things now, it sets up some later chapters, so hopefully it won't be too boring.**

**I also want to thank you all for your extremely positive feedback so far. It's really rewarding to know there are people out there reading (and liking) your work, and I appreciate you all taking the time to review. I smile every time I open my inbox and see an email concerning this story: the more, the better!**

**And now, please enjoy second year!**

* * *

><p>It had been three months since he'd seen them.<p>

There had been the letters, of course, even an invitation to stay, but it had been three months since he had actually seen either one of them.

He was absolutely convinced that, no matter how well he had managed over the summer, he couldn't wait one second longer.

He was practically, actually, _literally,_ bouncing in his seat.

"Scorpius," his father said, eyeing him in the review mirror of the muggle car they were taking to the station, "no matter how much you bounce, I won't drive any faster."

"Honestly," his mother agreed, in a slightly teasing voice, "I'd think he'd at least _pretend_ to be a little sad about leaving us for another full year."

"I am sad," Scorpius protested, trying desperately to still his jittering knees, "but I was with you all summer in Italy. I'm just…"

"Happy to see your friends again?" His mother finished for him. "We understand."

The drive had never seemed longer.

Finally, _finally, _they pulled up to the station. Scorpius rather thought that his father was driving extra slowly, just to torment him. Before Draco had even put the car in park, Scorpius had undone his seatbelt, thrown open his door, and ran around to the back of the car.

"Shall I open the trunk for you?" Came the dry voice from the driver's seat. "No matter how badly you want your trunk, you can't have it until I open the car."

His mother was laughing, opening her door and stepping gracefully into the street. "Don't torment the boy, Draco," she said, but she threw Scorpius a cautionary look anyway.

The trunk popped, Scorpius seized his bags, and was halfway in the station when he heard his father call, "Forgetting something?" Scorpius half expected him to mean that he should wait for his mother and father, but when he turned to do so, he saw his father holding up Orion's cage with a small smirk.

"Oh," he said, a little breathlessly as he dashed back to take it from him, "right. Sorry."

"Slow down, Scorpius," his mother said to him, "You'll get there soon enough."

As they made their way into the station, though, soon enough didn't feel nearly soon enough.

But there was platform Nine and Three Quarters, the blessed thing, and then they had all pushed through the barrier, and though Scorpius couldn't see either one of them yet, the sight of school colors and the billowing steam from the Hogwarts Express calmed him slightly anyway.

"Perhaps we should say our goodbyes here," Draco said, a little stiffly. Obviously, the thought of meeting the whole Weasley-Potter clan head on did not appeal to him in the least.

"Nonsense," Astoria told him, "we should meet his friends and their parents."

"I already know their parents," he hissed, quietly enough that Scorpius could barely make out his words, "I highly doubt that any of them would welcome me with open arms."

"You don't know that," Astoria said, taking his arm and smiling encouragingly at him. "Perhaps all that's needed is a hand extended in friendship." She spoke in a tone that would tolerate no argument, and she took hold of his arm and steered him deeper into the throng of gathered witches and wizards.

Then, suddenly, Scorpius saw them all through a break in the crowd, and never was a sight more welcome.

He walked towards them ahead of his mother, who still had his father by the arm. Abruptly, he felt rather awkward. He had never actually met Rose's parents, or Albus's, but the thought of doing so, of introducing them to his parents, was a rather frightening one.

Albus spotted him first, gave a little wave, and nudged Rose, leaning down to say something in her ear. She whipped her head around so fast that Scorpius fairly heard her neck crack, gave a shriek of excitement, seized Albus by the hand, and dragged him towards Scorpius, her long red hair flying behind her.

"Scorpius!" She cried, dropping her cousin's hand and flinging herself at Scorpius. Fortunately, he had been expecting such a reaction, and he dropped Orion (who protested with an almighty screech) just in time to catch her.

"Hello, Rosie," he said into her ear, "how was your summer?"

"Oh, fine," she said, "not as exciting as yours, I'm sure. You've grown!" And he had, he had a full head on her now.

"Hey, Scorp," Albus said, pushing past Rose. "Nice summer?"

"Yeah," Scorpius said, grinning, and he couldn't seem to wipe the smile off of his face.

Until he saw the gathered crowd, that is. Seeing all four parents, not to mention various cousins, aunts, and uncles staring at them made him acutely aware of his own parents standing a few feet back from the three of them.

Scorpius swallowed.

"Rose, Albus, I'd like you to meet my parents."

"Hello," Astoria said gently, stepping forward and extending her hand to Rose. "It's lovely to meet you. We've heard so much about you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Malfoy," Rose fairly squeaked, shaking her hand.

"Please, call me Astoria," she said, now extending a hand to Albus, who shook it rather warily.

"Draco," Scorpius' father said, extending his hand as well. "It's lovely to meet you at last."

Then Rose's parents were stepping forward too, a little protectively, with the Potters right behind them. There was one awkward beat when they all stood, not knowing exactly what to do, and then Draco had stepped past the children and extended his hand in the Weasley's direction.

"It's been a long time," he remarked.

Rose's mother took his hand first. "A very long time," she said, shaking it firmly. "Good to see you again, Draco. We've heard that your son is a lovely boy."

"We hope so," Draco said. "It's lovely to see you, too, Mrs. Weasley. Mr. Weasley," he said, turning to her father.

"We've known you a while," Rose's father said, shaking the proffered hand, "you can call us by our names."

"Very well," Draco murmured, smiling slightly, "Pleasure to see you again, Ron, Hermione."

They both smiled back, still a little warily, and Draco moved onto the Potters.

Scorpius' mother stepped forward. "Astoria Malfoy," she said. "I've heard so much about you all."

And then they were all shaking hands, making acquaintances and re-acquaintances, and the awkwardness had passed.

"Mum," Rose said, pulling on her sleeve a little, "have you met Scorpius?"

"No," Mrs. Weasley said, smiling at him, "But I've heard so much about you, Scorpius."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Weasley," he said, trying desperately not to be nervous.

"There's too many Mrs. Weasleys to make that address entirely practical, Scorpius, please call me Hermione."

"There's even more Mr. Weasleys than Mrs. Weasleys," Rose's father said, bypassing the introduction altogether, "so call me Ron."

"This is my brother, Hugo," Rose said of a red haired boy who had just materialized by his mother's side.

"Hi," Hugo said, a little glumly.

"He's down because he doesn't get to come 'til next year," Rose whispered to him, pulling him towards the Potters. "Come meet Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry."

So Scorpius did, realizing with an odd sort of pride that he was on a first name basis with the Golden Trio.

And then the introductions were over, and everyone was chatting amicably enough with each other, and Scorpius seemed to really look at his friends for the first time.

Albus was taller, though still not as tall as Scorpius himself, and his hair was longer, too, still sticking out in random directions all across his head. The resemblance to his father was slightly disconcerting.

Rose's hair was longer, slightly better tamed, and it seemed to be darker, too, matching more her Aunt Ginny's hair than her father's, but she still had his crooked smile and his bright blue eyes, all set against her mother's features.

Scorpius supposed that he looked just as much like his father as the two of them, and wondered, not for the first time, how exactly the three of them had ended up friends. It was almost as strange as watching the Weasley's and the Malfoy's friendly interaction, as he was doing now.

He did not have long to ponder it, though, for the train whistle was sounding and the students were all saying goodbyes, climbing aboard and claiming compartments.

"Well that was disappointing," Albus said once they had all sat down in their usual compartment, "no one even got hexed."

"How was Venice?" Rose asked breathlessly, ignoring him, "I wish I could have been there all summer like you, instead of at home."

"Not bad," Scorpius replied, "but not terribly exciting. Dad was there on ministry business, so we didn't have rollicking adventures or anything like that. I wish I could have come to the Burrow with you, but Father wouldn't send me alone, and they both had to stay."

"You didn't really miss anything," Albus reassured him. "The Quidditch game only lasted a couple of hours, Uncle Charlie didn't bring any presents for us, Uncle George only played a couple dozen jokes, and even Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione only had three rows."

This didn't sound boring to Scorpius at all, but before he could reply, Rose, who was still ignoring her cousin, asked, "Did you learn Italian?"

"Si, signorina," he said turning to her.

"Ooh," she breathed, "I've always wanted to know another language. Say something!"

"Sei bella, mia rosa," he said smirking at her. She blushed.

"I don't know what you said," she informed him, "but it probably sounds nicer in Italian, anyway."

"This has to be the best feeling in the world," Scorpius said softly an hour later, after they had all eaten their fill and as the train was pulling around the last bend to Hogsmeade station.

"What is?" Albus asked, stuffing a chocolate frog in his mouth.

"Coming home."


	11. Elizabeth Banner

Scorpius was taking an exquisite joy at not being first.

No longer was he at the end of the table, no longer was he the brunt of jokes, no longer was he an outsider.

No longer was he a first year.

He was fairly certain that Albus felt the same way, judging by the fact that he was sitting tall in his seat, puffed up with the importance of himself.

"Glad we're not up there again, eh?" Albus asked, with a cheeky smile, driving his elbow into Scorpius' ribs as he looked at the line of assembled first years.

Scorpius had time for only a quick returning grin before Rose turned and hushed them both furiously, for Professor McGonagall had started to talk.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, for those returning students, and welcome to all our first years." As one, all eyes in the hall swiveled to stare at the gathered students, who had moved slightly out of their alphabetical line to clump together, obviously seeking protection from one another.

"A few reminders before the sorting begins," McGonagall went on, drawing the attention back to herself. "I hardly need remind you all that the Forbidden Forest is, as should be assumed, forbidden." Now it was she who swiveled to stare over the top of her spectacles at James Potter and Avery Collins, both of whom slumped a little in their seats and threw sheepish grins at each other. "Also, magic is absolutely prohibited in the corridors between classes, and Mr. Filch asked me to remind you that all students are expected to be in their Common Rooms before curfew." Now every eye in the room was focused on the ancient caretaker.

"How is he still here?" Albus whispered ferociously. "He was old when dad was here, and that was twenty years ago. Shouldn't he be dead by now?" Rose shot him another furious look, and apparently the Headmistress had finished her speech, for now Professor Longbottom was unrolling the massive sheet of parchment he held and calling the first name: "Adams, Camille."

She was quickly sorted into Slytherin, and then "Banner, Elizabeth" was approaching the chair to become the first new Gryffindor.

Scorpius cheered along with the rest of the Gryffindor table, and Elizabeth Banner approached the end of the table, blushing, to sit down.

She was quickly joined by "Barnes, Emmett," and Scorpius tried desperately to care as the rest of the first years were sorted, but he was simply too hungry.

Finally, "Zonner, Jane" became a Hufflepuff, the tables filled with food, and Scorpius nearly sighed with bliss.

"Nice, isn't it?" Albus asked as the three of them finished eating and trundled up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower.

"Hmm?"

"Not having to follow a blasted prefect up to the common room, and not having everyone staring at us… just, being older. Being a second year."

"Yeah, it's nice. People are used to us now, they aren't so nosy," Scorpius agreed.

"Panthera," Rose said to the Fat Lady, who swung obligingly open for them. "And they're used to us being together, too," she added, as they headed towards their favorite group of armchairs. "They don't think it's so odd for us to be friends, like they did—"

She cut off abruptly as they came upon their usual chairs, only to find them not empty, as they expected, but occupied by a young girl penning a letter. Scorpius only vaguely recognized her, and he assumed her to be a new first year.

She was tiny, small even for her age, with perfectly straight brown hair and small, neat features.

"Oh, sorry," she gasped, as she looked up to find that she was being watched by three of the most famous students at Hogwarts. "Did I take your spot? I'll just move then, shall I?" She blinked up at them with a pair of eyes that were a peculiar shade of blue, almost violet, and rushed to roll her parchment.

"No," Albus said, staring at her, "It's alright. You can stay as long as you want."

Scorpius exchanged a skeptical look with Rose behind her cousin's back.

"You're new, aren't you?" Albus asked her, rather abruptly. She blinked at him again.

"Yes," She squeaked, but it sounded more like a question than an answer. She was visibly trembling as she fumbled for her quill.

"No, really, you can stay," Albus said earnestly, "You were here first, I mean. I'm Albus Potter."

She nodded rapidly. "I know," she whispered, dropping her letter on the floor. Albus rushed to fetch it.

"This is my cousin, Rose Weasley, and our friend, Scorpius Malfoy," he added, handing the letter back carefully."

"Right," she said. "Well, I'll just…" And she hurried away, without finishing her sentence.

"You sure have a way with the ladies, Al," Rose remarked dryly as she claimed her normal chair. "Chased that one right off."

"I… I did no such thing," he spluttered, sitting heavily, "She just… looked scared."

"So you figured you'd give her a terrible fright just for kicks then?" Scorpius added, "Or is that how you always welcome people to Hogwarts?"

"I didn't _mean_ to frighten her," Albus groaned, dropping his head into his hands. "I was only trying to help."

"Well, the prospect of having the three of us thrust upon one is a little frightening, to be sure," Rose mused.

"I wish I knew her name," Albus said, withdrawing his face from his hands.

"Elizabeth Banner," Rose answered automatically. "She was the first Gryffindor this year. Why?"

Albus flushed a brilliant shade of red. "Oh, just… curious," he stammered, and then stood. "I'm off to bed then, see you both in the morning." And he wandered out of the common room a little dreamily.

As soon as he had started up the boy's staircase, Rose whirled around with a mischievous grin. "He's besotted," she said gleefully. "I never thought I'd see the day when I had something on Albus Severus Potter, but he _fancies_ her. And he's barely spoken to her!"

Scorpius was laughing. "Did you see the look on his face? Poor girl, he's going to absolutely torment her."

"Why her?" Rose asked.

"Dunno," Scorpius answered, leaning back in his chair. "She had interesting eyes, did you see? Almost purple."

Rose's temperament changed in an instant. "I saw," she muttered, through what looked like clenched teeth. "Going to fight him for her, then?" Her eyes shot blue sparks at him.

"Me? Merlin, Rose, if Al wants her, he can have her. I have no interest in the girl."

"Of course not, I was only joking," she said, but she looked a good deal less inclined to bit his head off. "Well, I'm off to bed then, see you at breakfast," she said airily, as she flounced up the steps to her dormitory.

"Night, Rosie," he called up after her.

_Women._


	12. Flying

Scorpius loved to fly.

He loved the feel of wind in his hair and on his face, of the broom under his knees, of the complete freedom that his broomstick gave him. As though he could go anywhere in the world that he so desired.

Which, now that he thought about it, was probably true. Not that he would necessarily _want_ to fly to Brazil, but it was possible.

Quidditch was fun too, of course, but he could really care less about the competitive aspect of the game. He just liked it because it gave him a chance to fly.

Not that he could play Quidditch here at Hogwarts. It was allowed, technically, and the Ravenclaw team had a second year flying for them, but with the Gryffindor Team dominated by experienced older players, he didn't have a shot, no matter how badly he wanted it. The team had only just accepted James Potter, and he was the best seeker the school had seen since his own father, and a fourth year to boot.

Perhaps next year, when the keeper graduated. If he practiced a little with Rose and Albus, who were both eyeing the chaser position, he was sure he could try out, at least. He was a fair hand at keeping.

A sudden roar of the crowd drew his attention from the imaginary Quidditch game in his head to the real one on the field: Gryffindor had just scored the first goal of the game.

"Amelia Proctor with the goal!" The announcer, a cheery Hufflepuff named Sydney Kelp was saying, as Amelia took a celebratory flip.

Then she was off again, and she and her fellow chasers Colette Harding and Alex Phelps were scoring goal after goal against the hapless Ravenclaws, who could barely retaliate.

"And Gryffindor Keeper Henry Glancer saves another goal," Sydney announced, just as Albus leaned over and shouted over the roar of the crowd, "They really don't stand a chance, do they?"

"Traditionally," Rose added matter-of-factly, "the Gryffindor Quidditch team has dominated competition ever since the Second Wizarding War, probably due to—"

"Rose," Albus said, a little irritably, "We don't care about tradition. We only care that we're about to win this game!"

And as if to illustrate his point, Sydney Kelp suddenly screamed, "Harding with another goal, Gryffindor is up by eighty points!"

"I thought it was interesting," Scorpius hastened to assure Rose, who was looking rather disappointed. "Why are we traditionally so good?"

But she didn't answer him. She was too busy eying Albus, who was now eyeing Elizabeth Banner, three rows down.

"Poor girl," Rose murmured, "He's never going to give up."

"Who's that boy she's with?" Scorpius asked suddenly, seeing Elizabeth turn to speak up at a gangly boy with curling sandy hair.

"Emmett Barnes," Rose replied, "His sister, Julia, is in our year."

Scorpius grinned. "Think old Alby has some competition?"

"Actually," Rose replied, studying the two first years with a clinical efficiency, "the way they regard each other is much friendlier, even more familial, than romantic. I wouldn't worry."

Scorpius was about to tell her how _un_worried he was when Sydney suddenly squeaked, "and Potter has the snitch, Gryffindor wins 260 to 30!"

"Good game, huh?" Albus asked, tearing his eyes from Elizabeth and looking over at them.

"Not really," Scorpius said, "We crushed Ravenclaw. There wasn't really much exceptional playing."

"Right," Albus remarked distractedly, "of course. Oh, look! There's that girl that was sitting in our chair!" He spoke with exaggerated surprise, and when he turned to look at Scorpius again, his face was a caricature of shock. "What was her name again? Eleanor? Eloise?"

"Elizabeth?" Rose asked drily.

"Oh, right," Albus said with feigned shock, "That was it! Hello, Elizabeth!" He called.

If he didn't think that it would have been terribly obvious, Scorpius would have buried his face in his hands.

Elizabeth swung around wildly, searching for the person calling her, and then blushed furiously when her gaze landed on Albus, who was waving rather maniacally.

"Hello," he said, when he caught up with her, "did you enjoy the game?"

She nodded, a little cautiously.

"Look," he said suddenly, "I wanted to apologize for startling you the other night, I just wanted to introduce myself."

"It's okay," she said in a whisper.

"So," Albus continued, "maybe we should just start over? I'm Albus Potter. Some people call me Al."

"Elizabeth Banner," she squeaked, "but most people call me Elsie."

"Really? I've never heard that nickname before." The two pulled ahead a little, leaving Scorpius and Rose smirking after them.

"I hope that Al never tries to woo me," Rose said.

"Me too," Scorpius agreed earnestly, "incest is frowned upon in many cultures."

"That's not what I meant," she said, shooting him a pointed glance, "He's just… so… awkward."

"When I woo," Scorpius said solemnly, "I will try to avoid awkwardness at all times."

"Don't woo _too_ soon, please." Rose made a little face. "I want you for a little longer before you run off with some Venetian hussy or something."

"I wasn't aware that the word 'hussy' was still commonly used," he laughed, earning a glare."Don't worry," he said, placating her and swinging an arm around her shoulders, "I'm not running anywhere, and I won't be for a long time."


	13. An Invitation

The subject was broached at dessert on the first day of Christmas break.

"I'm a great believer in the power of influence," his father was saying as he took a sip of Butterbeer.

"Influence?" Scorpius asked, cutting another slice of treacle tart for himself.

"Yes, influence. For example, my father didn't provide the best influence for me. While I do not blame my actions on him, or my mother, or anyone else, I do feel that if I had had better role models I might have made better decisions. On that token, your mother and I have tried our very best to provide you with a positive influence."

Scorpius felt that it would be rather rude to ask if there was a point to this speech, so he merely put a bit of the tart in his mouth and waited for his father to continue.

"Your friends, Scorpius…" Here, Draco was suddenly cut off when Scorpius choked on his piece of tart.

"Scorpius, are you all right?" His mother asked concernedly as her son, red in the face and gasping for air, clawed for his glass of water and downed it.

"Yes, mother, fine," he replied once he caught his breath.

Draco gave him a very odd look. "As I was saying," he said slowly, "your mother and I believe that your friends are also positive influences for you."

Scorpius took another careful bite of the tart.

"And being such, we would like to encourage you to involve them in your life here as well as at Hogwarts."

Scorpius, who had been rather fearing that his parents were going to name the members of the Weasley-Potter clan as horrid role models and forbid him from ever seeing any of them again, was immensely relieved.

"Scorpius," his mother said, sensing that he still was not grasping the point of this speech, "we want you to invite your friends here for dinner."

"Dinner?" Scorpius squeaked. He pictured Albus and Rose in his house, sitting at this table, making idle conversation with his parents. It was a very odd picture.

"Or luncheon, if you would prefer," Astoria said, pushing her plate away from her and standing. "Perhaps the 23rd?"

And then she and Draco both left the room, leaving Scorpius alone with a half eaten tart and the frightening prospect of inviting his friends for dinner.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Rose,<em>

_How have your holidays been so far? Mine have been fairly normal, except for an episode at dessert last night._

_My parents are insisting that I invite you for dinner on the 23__rd__. Which, reading back, rather sounds like they're making me invite you against my will. Which isn't true at all, I'm thrilled to have you, but it was a rather odd request for them to make, I thought. Until I remembered that this is my mother, and she's quite possibly the most polite person on the planet. Plus, she was Witch Weekly's Hostess of the Year last year, so she has a reputation to uphold. _

_So, you (and Albus, too, of course, but I won't bother writing him, since you're together at the Burrow) are cordially invited to dinner at Malfoy Manor, December the 23__rd__._

_We eat at 7, so if you come around 6, we'll have you home before 11._

_Our fireplace is connected to the Floo Network, so you can arrive by that if it's convenient._

_Please reply as soon as convenient, and hopefully I'll see you soon!_

_Sincerely,_

_Scorpius_

* * *

><p><em>Dear Scorpius,<em>

_I would love to come for dinner, as long as you promise that you really do want me there and you're not under duress._

_Unfortunately, there was an incident at the beginning of holiday at the Potter's house, and neither James nor Albus are allowed out of their rooms until the house is rebuilt. They're not even allowed at the Burrow. Aunt Ginny's here with Lily, but Uncle Harry's only bringing them for Christmas day and then they have to go right back home again. I don't know if Uncle Harry is going to ever let them see Uncle George again. I've never seen him so angry._

_Anyway, I'll be in your fireplace at 6 o clock on the 23, but without Albus in tow. Sorry. Although, the evening might be more pleasant on the whole without him there firing off his mouth._

_My parents both raised their eyebrows when I told them where I was going, but then mum said "That's kind of them," and dad said, "Just steer clear of the drawing room." I told mum you didn't keep house elves, too, and she was very impressed by that._

_I'm looking forward to seeing you!_

_Love, _

_Rose_

* * *

><p><em>Dear Rose,<em>

_I promise that this isn't just for mother and father. _

_I'm sorry to hear about Albus, too, although if he did almost single handedly destroy the Potter house, I can't say that I blame your Uncle and Aunt._

_Anyway, there's always other Christmases, and if Albus promises not to destroy __our__ house, I'm sure you will both be invited back._

_As you will be in my fireplace at 6 o clock, I will be waiting for you in front of it._

_See you tomorrow!_

_Love,_

_Scorpius_

_P.S. I can promise you that we won't be anywhere near the Drawing Room. We don't actually use it, we haven't since… well, I don't actually know when. Before I was born. Since you-know-what, I believe. Anyway. We won't be in the Drawing Room, so don't worry about that. Not that you were worried, necessarily, but, just in case. I mean, I wouldn't ever do something to hurt you. Emotionally speaking. And now I'm rambling. Wonderful. I'll see you tomorrow, give your family my best. If you want._

_Love, _

_Scorpius. Again. _


	14. Christmas Supper

**I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all again for your support of me and this story.**

**Unfortunately, I may not be updating as frequently as usual for a while. We're on vacation right now, and of the computers I do have access to, one doesn't have Word and the doesn't have internet acess, so I'm having to transfer files from one to the other and it's a bit of a mess.**

**I will continue to update as frequently as I can, though.**

**I don't really know how long this story will end up being... Right now, it's looking a bit long, which frightens me, partly because I don't wan't you all to lose interest. I'm sort of playing this by ear, though, so hopefully it turns out well!**

**Here's praying that you all aren't bored yet!**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

><p>It was 6:03.<p>

It was 6:03 and she wasn't coming, he was sure of it.

He terrified her, his family terrified her, his house terrified her. Of course she wouldn't come. She just hadn't said no because she didn't want to be rude, but she wasn't going to come.

It was 6:04.

He couldn't stop pacing. He told his legs to stop walking, to sit down and shut up, but they just didn't listen.

His father pushed open the door to the sitting room, and observed his son's agitation with a wry smile.

"She's not coming," Scorpius blurted.

Draco's face changed to an expression of concern. "Did she change her mind?"

"She must have. It's 6:04. No, it's 6:05. It's 6:05, and she's not here yet. Isn't it obvious? She's not coming."

Draco smiled again. "Maybe she's just running late."

"She's not running late. She…" He took a deep breath. "She's just running late. Of course she is." Scorpius gave a nervous sort of chuckle. "Just late…" He started pacing again. His father left the room.

It was 6:06. Scorpius couldn't decide whether he most wanted to run for Orion and send off a letter to make sure she wasn't dead or step into the fireplace himself to fetch her.

He was just on the verge of leaving to fetch Orion when green flames lit up the fireplace and she stepped out, with mussed curls and slightly flushed cheeks.

"Hello!" She grinned when she saw him, stepping into his embrace. Her head fit neatly under his chin, and her soft curls tickled his nose. He smelled roses, and something else, something sweet. Vanilla, perhaps?

"I thought you weren't coming," he said once he had released her from his embrace.

"Sorry, I was all ready to go and then mum made me go back for a jumper, even though I told her we wouldn't be outside and I hardly need one for the fireplace." She gave a cheeky grin, and added ruefully, "but what mum wants, mum gets."

"It's all right," he assured her, taking said jumper and slinging it over an armchair, "I was overreacting."

The door swung open again. "Scorpius, have you quite worn out the rug pacing yet? I'm sure she's on her… Oh, Miss Weasley." Draco strode forward and extended his hand. "Welcome."

Rose shook his hand, murmuring, "Hello, Mr. Malfoy."

"Please, Draco. Actually, I was just coming to tell you that supper is served in the dining room. Your mother is there already, Scorpius." He stepped out of the room again.

"Pacing, Scorp?" Rose was smiling rather knowingly at him.

"I was worried, was all," he said stiffly. "The dining room's this way."

"I was just joking," she said softly, and then, reassured by his smile, asked, "is your mother a good cook? My mum's rather hopeless, although she's gotten a lot better, from what dad says."

"Mother doesn't cook, actually," Scorpius said, steering her around a corner and down a long hallway.

Rose paled. "I thought you said you didn't keep house elves," she whispered, stopping at the top of a large staircase.

"We don't," Scorpius assured her. "We hire a Squib from the village, actually. And we pay her well." He smiled, opened the door to the dining room, and ushered her inside.

"Rose!" Astoria called when they were inside, bypassing formality and sweeping the girl into an embrace. "How have your holidays been?"

"Crowded," she answered, smoothing her hair like she always did when she was uncomfortable, "but nice. We're with all the family."

"That does sound nice," Astoria agreed, sitting in her chair as Scorpius helped Rose to hers. "I've always wanted a large family, but it was only my sister, Daphne, and I growing up, and of course Draco's an only child." She smiled fondly at her husband.

"Not for the worse, I assure you," Draco answered, filling a water goblet and taking his own seat. "My parents didn't need more than one child to experiment with."

The door opened and a sturdy looking girl swept in with the dinner.

"Thank you," Rose murmured politely when her plate, filled with delicious looking food, was set in front of her.

"Anything else, ma'am?" The servant asked Astoria after the plates had been distributed.

"That should be all for now, Heidi, thank you."

Heidi left, and the room was oddly, abruptly quiet. Scorpius tried desperately to think of something to say, but it was his father who first broke the silence: "You look a great deal like your mother, Miss Weasley."

"Rose," she corrected, looking up in astonishment. "Most people think I look more like Dad."

Draco studied her for a moment, sipping his water. "In your coloring, yes, but your face more closely resembles your mother."

Astoria smiled at her. "Of course, I don't know either one very well, but I would say that you have your father's eyes."

"Thank you," Rose said, a bit unsurely, as if she didn't know whether or not this was a compliment.

"Scorpius has his father's eyes too, of course, but he looks almost exactly like his father did at that age in every respect, from the pictures I've seen." Astoria sighed, and made a comic face. "Not a trace of me. If I wasn't positive that I had birthed the child, I wouldn't know he was mine."

Scorpius made a little face, at which Rose couldn't help laughing, and the rest of the meal passed in comfortable conversation.

* * *

><p>"So?" Scorpius asked her later, as they were playing exploding snap in his bedroom.<p>

"So?" She countered. He grinned.

"So, was it as terrifying as you expected?"

She played a card. "I didn't expect to be terrified. You expected me to be terrified. There's a rather large difference."

Scorpius thought about that for a moment. "True. I did expect you to be terrified. Which is rather silly of me, looking back. You're about the least terrified person I know."

"Well," she said sitting up and adopting an air of exaggerated haughtiness, "I _am_ a Gryffindor after all, darling." She swept her curls over her shoulder and stuck her nose in the air. "Did you expect anything less?"

Scorpius was laughing too hard to notice his father, standing in the open doorway with a soft smile on his face.

"I do hate to interrupt," he said, startling both children, "but I'm afraid if we keep you too much longer, Rose, your family will fear that you've been kidnapped."

She swung around to look at the clock on the bedside table and yelped. "I have to be home by eleven!"

Scorpius rushed her past his father, looking after them with a bemused smile, down the hallway, around the corner, down the staircase, through another doorway and the adjacent corridor, and finally back into the sitting room.

She gave him one last quick, soft hug, and climbed back into the fireplace, grinning.

"What?" He asked her.

"You smell like cinnamon," she said, and then threw down her handful of floo powder, announced, "The Burrow," and was gone in a flash of green.

He chuckled after her, wondering why she found that fact so interesting. Then he grabbed her jumper, which she had left on the chair in her haste, and headed up to bed, closing the sitting room door softly behind him.


	15. Explanations

**The next installment in my ever-expanding tale. Yikes.**

**Anyway, although I am increasingly unable to type (double yikes), I am still writing, so although it may take a longer for the chapters to get from my brain to your computer screen, as they have to go through a notebook first, I am still writing them down and transferring as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!**

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><p>"Honestly, I'm surprised your parents let you out of the house. Not like there's a house left."<p>

Albus made an awful face at Rose, who was laughing, and said to Scorpius with great dignity, "I see my _lovely_ cousin has been exaggerating. It wasn't the whole house. Merely the kitchen, and most of the living room. Perhaps a bit of the entryway. It wasn't, however, the _whole house._" Albus sat back in his seat and looked out the train window.

He had been affecting an air of hurt all afternoon, ever since Scorpius had acted surprised to see him at the train station, but Scorpius knew that he was just playing, for when, after they had said goodbye to their parents and climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express, he had seen Elsie Banner, and had waved and said hello with great energy. Scorpius knew Al, and if he had been seriously angry, he wouldn't have been nice to _anyone._

"By the way, Al," Rose said, leaning forward interestedly, "how did it happen? I never heard. Aunt Ginny did nothing except press her lips together and threaten to curse Uncle George into July. I've never seen Uncle George scared before."

"There may," Albus said carefully, "have been a small incident with the dusting charms."

"The dusting charms that Uncle George hasn't finished yet and are in an experimental stage only?"

Albus cleared his throat. "Yes. Those dusting charms."

Rose gave him a significant look, and Scorpius had the sinking feeling that they both knew more than he did. "Wait," he interrupted, "what's wrong with the dusting charms."

"They have a nasty tendency to explode when they bump each other," Albus said sheepishly. "Mum set James and me to dusting the kitchen. We didn't know! Uncle George didn't say what was wrong with them, only that there were 'problems.' Mum did tell us to only use one… but we thought she was just trying to teach us the value of patience or hard work or something ghastly like that. We didn't think she was serious! Anyway, we thought we'd just speed the process up a bit…"

"You used two at the same time?" Rose yelped.

"Um… not exactly… There were probably more like three. Maybe four or five."

"Albus." Rose said matter-of-factly.

"Fine! We used six, alright? James did a calculation, and we figured if we used six, the room could be done in ten minutes flat. Only… Well, once the first two exploded, the rest kept bumping into that one, and instead of a little mini-explosion, there was a great big explosion." Albus shuddered. "I thought dad might actually kill me."

"Well, it's a shame," Rose said a little haughtily. "Scorp and I had a lovely supper at his house that _you_ were too stupid to participate in."

"Oh yeah," Scorpius chimed in, "You really missed out."

"You little lovebirds can just keep your trysts to yourself," he grumbled from the depths of his seat, where he had slumped, looking injured.

Scorpius had just opened his mouth to tell Albus just how _non_ lovebird-y he and Rose were, but Rose got there first.

But instead of telling her cousin where to get off, as Scorpius had intended, Rose turned to him.

"Scorp," she said cautiously, "Can I ask you something?" He nodded, so she went on, "Your mother said… well, she said that she wanted a large family. But you're an only child. Aren't you?"

Scorpius nodded again. "But I think… well, I think maybe I wasn't going to be. I sort of remember, when I was four or five, mother and father being really happy, really loving, and then one day I found her crying. She said that she had wanted to give me something, but that she couldn't anymore. And the subject never came up again. We've never talked about it."

Rose looked as if she might cry. "That's so sad!" She said softly. "Hugo can be a beast, but he's still… well, he's still my brother."

"I don't know," Albus grumbled, "sometimes I think I'd be better off without siblings. I wouldn't have blown the kitchen up, that's for sure."

There was a sudden rapping on the compartment door, and it slid open to reveal James, looking surly, with three or four girls peeping their heads around him.

"Have you seen my potions book?" He said sourly to Albus.

"What would I be doing with a fourth-year potions book?" Albus shot back, in the same tone. "Of course I haven't seen it, you dolt."

James slid the compartment door shut again, and stalked away.

"James and his harem," Rose sniggered, "he always seems to have three or four girls hovering 'round. Is there any girl who _isn't_ in love with him?"

"Kate Turnbow hates him," Albus volunteered.

"Who's Kate Turnbow?"

"Dunno, some fourth year. She irritates him, though, 'cause he's so used to girls swooning over him. Kate usually just tells him to sod off."

"That's probably good for him," Rose commented wisely, "his ego's far too big already. Especially since he made the quidditch team."

"Well," Scorpius said a bit later, when they had finished psychoanalyzing James Potter and had fetched their luggage and climbed aboard a carriage together, "it sounds like your holidays were more exciting than mine."

Albus sighed heavily, his breath fogging in the cold January air. "Scorpius," he said, "you have no idea."

And they trundled up the hill through the snow to the brightly lit castle.


	16. Comfort

**So this is the last Second Year chapter... and it's kind of random. To be honest, I was so ready to move onto third year after that last one, but I couldn't really leave them hanging for six months at Christmas time, so I added one more.**

**On a totally different note, I am terribly sorry this took me so long. I've had it written for ages, but I couldn't type it up until I had access to another computer, and then I had to transfer it to this one for the internet. Honestly, what self-respecting PC doesn't have Microsoft Word?**

**I rest my case.**

**Also, I keep getting alerts in my email, which makes me weirdly happy... so thank you!**

**Anyway, I haven't had a disclaimer in a while. Better safe than sorry!**

**The Harry Potter series and its characters are all the property of JK Rowling. If you recognize it, it's not mine.**

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><p>It started, as so many things at Hogwarts did, in the common room.<p>

James Potter and Katherine Turnbow were building up to what looked like the best row they'd had in weeks, and for the rest of the Gryffindors gathered there, that meant a solid night's worth of entertainment.

"Your arrogance doesn't impress me, Potter," Kate was spitting, finally abandoning all hope of finishing her homework assignment and standing up forcefully, "and neither do your so-called skills on the Quidditch Pitch."

"Come on, Katie," James said, grinning at her, "they're not so-called! Anyone could tell you that I've got talented fingers." He winked at her. "Collins, tell the lady about that spectacular catch I made last match." Avery Collins rolled his eyes and turned back to his Charms work.

"Don't call me Katie," she growled, shoving her dark curls behind her shoulder and walking to within a few feet of him, "if you ever want children."

James just laughed and winked at her again. "Someday, Turnbow, you'll be begging me for children."

"You can stop trying to seduce me, Potter." Her green eyes were hard. "You could have your pick of any girl here? Fine. Pick away. But you'll never have me."

Scorpius never heard James' retort, for he had noticed a snowy owl hovering at the window and ran to fetch the letter.

"It's for you, Rosie," he said, handing her the letter.

She examined the handwriting on the front carefully, and then exclaimed, "It's from mum!" She tore open the envelope hurriedly.

"Hey, Al," Scorpius said to him as Rose read her letter, "do you think you should break that up?" He tilted his head towards Kate, who had drawn her wand, and James, who had stopped laughing.

Albus, who had been helping Elsie with one of her potions assignments, glanced at James for a split second, said, "Nah, it'll be good for him. Teach him a lesson and all that," and turned back to Elsie.

"Rose," Scorpius started to say, but the words died on his lips as she stood, ashen faced, thrust the letter into his hands, and fled the common room.

* * *

><p>It took him a full fifteen minutes to find her.<p>

He had glanced at Albus, who was staring at the portrait hole with a look of confusion, scanned the letter, looked back at Albus, who had by then fixed his gaze on Scorpius with a look that clearly said 'you find her,' sighed, and headed for the exit.

She hadn't been in the library or the corridors, she hadn't been in the Great Hall or any of the empty classrooms he bothered to glance into. It wasn't until he had more closely read the letter that he still held grasped in his hand that he knew exactly where she would be.

As soon as he started climbing the steps of the Astronomy Tower, he could hear her sniffling. When he sat down beside her and laid an arm gently around her shoulders, she flung herself at him, sobbing freshly. He patted her back gingerly.

"Rose?" He said softly after her tears had subsided and she was tucked snugly into his side, sniffling again. She didn't answer, so he went on hesitantly, not wanting to set her off once more, "he was your Great Uncle?" He felt her nod against his chest. "Did you know him well?" She shook her head. "Did you know him… at all?" Another hesitant shake.

She pulled back suddenly, as if expecting reproach. "He's dead, Scorp." Her voice was soft and thick with sadness, her huge blue eyes still teary.

"I know, Rose. But he was a muggle."

Her eyes flashed, and she pulled further away from his embrace. "That doesn't lessen the value of his life!"

"That's not what I meant at all! It's just… well, muggles don't usually live as long as wizards do. He was old?"

She nodded, and said, "eighty."

"That's old for a muggle, Rosie. It was his time."

She snuggled up against him again, her head tucked under his chin, and once again he caught a whiff of her scent from her soft curls. Roses, of that he was certain, and something earthier too, like fresh turned soil. And there was something else, too, something sweet… something that conjured up memories of warm fires and cheerful kitchens… The memory hit him viscerally. Cookies. The girl smelled like cookies.

He refocused on what she was saying: "… don't have anything to be sad about, maybe, but he had a wife and children and grandchildren… and imagine how Grandma Granger must feel!" She was crying again, he could feel her tears against his shirt, hot and wet.

"I know, Rosie," he murmured, hugging her tighter and rocking her back and forth as his mother had done when he was very little.

And he kept murmuring to her, any words that popped into his head; English ones, Italian ones, ones that he was quite positive didn't actually exist. He kept rocking her until her tears stopped falling and her breathing became slow and even.

And then he nudged her awake and guided her down the stairs towards bed.

It was fortuitous that the prefect that they met on their way was a Weasley, who took one look at Rose, swollen eyed and red nosed and leaning, half-asleep, against Scorpius, and gave them a warning instead of a detention.

But then, Scorpius supposed, there were perks to being a Weasley.


	17. A Burrow Summer

**The forces of nature have literally conspired against me. Lighting. It struck the tree in the front yard and killed the computer stone dead. So I'm really sorry that it's been so long... but I tried my very hardest.**

**Thanks to those of you who are still with me...**

**This is the first installment in Third Year, so please enjoy!**

**Again, I own nothing.**

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><p>Scorpius considered himself a man of the world.<p>

Or rather, he would have considered himself a man of the world had he not been thirteen.

Regardless of this distinction, however, Draco's position at the ministry provided for travel abroad, and his position as a Malfoy provided him the ability to take his family. Before his Hogwarts day, Scorpius traveled with his parents across the continent, to Australia, and once, to America. Now, though, he was able only to embark on the annual summer trip to Venice.

Scorpius loved Venice. He loved the canals, smelly as they may be, he loved the winding streets in which he frequently got lost, he loved the gondolas and the cathedrals. Scorpius loved Italian, also, and as a result, he learned it voraciously. He proudly remembered the moment when their plump Venetian housekeeper had remarked in her own broken English, "'You well speak _Italiano_.'" He was seven at the time.

But never had he been so scared to enter a place as he was right now. He had faced pickpockets, he had faced people who had swore at him in foreign languages, even, once, a broken portkey that had seemed to doom him to stay in Munich forever.

But now, standing at the front door to the Burrow, he couldn't force himself to take another step.

He wouldn't be there at all, except that his father's business had hit a snag that didn't permit his return to England until mid-September—well after term resumed at Hogwarts. It had seemed a blessing when Rose had invited Scorpius, once again, to stay at the Burrow for the last week of August. The Weasleys could take him to Diagon Alley, the Weasleys could see him off to school, and Astoria, who hadn't wanted to travel alone to see him off, could stay in Venice with her husband.

So Scorpius had taken the portkey that Draco had connected to a meadow just over a hill from the Burrow feeling very brave at the prospect of traveling alone.

And now he was ten feet from the door, too petrified to move another step. He wasn't feeling particularly like a Gryffindor at the moment.

He might have stood there staring at the Burrow (which looked alarmingly wobbly) forever, if the front door hadn't burst open and Rose hadn't run at him in a dead sprint.

He wasn't entirely certain whether she intended to flatten him or embrace him, but he dropped his trunk and opened his arms just in case. Indeed, Rose ran into his arms without so much as slowing down, and he was quite certain that if he hadn't used her momentum to pick her up off her feet and swing her in several giddy circles she would have knocked them both to the ground.

They both pulled back, grinning widely, and then Albus, who had crossed the yard at a much more dignified pace was slapping Scorpius good-naturedly on the back and beaming at the both of them.

"You've got to come inside and meet everybody, we've all been waiting for you," Rose gushed as she pulled him back towards the house, leaving Albus calling, "Sure, leave me with the trunk," from behind.

Rose pushed open the front door, and once Scorpius had blinked against the room, suddenly dim against the outside summer light, he saw a fairly small room absolutely brimming with Weasleys. There were what seemed to be hundreds of red heads turned in his direction, with thousands of identical blue eyes blinking at him. He swallowed hard.

"Everyone, this is my good friend Scorpius Malfoy. Scorp, this is everyone."

There were a few murmured hellos. James waved at him, and Hermione Weasley was smiling at him reassuringly.

Scorpius swallowed again. "Hi," he said, and before he could say anything else, Albus was huffing up the front steps, lugging Scorpius' trunk and saying grumpily, "If you insist on making a man lug your luggage, the least you can do is get out of his way so he can put it down."

There was a split second where everything froze, and then the room collectively chuckled and went back to their business as Rose introduced him around further.

"You know mum and dad of course, and Hugo, and you've seen Victoire around school with her sister, Dominique and her brother, Louis, and there are her mum and dad, Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur. There's Uncle Charlie, he doesn't have a family, and you know the Potters, of course. Uncle Percy's on the couch, with his wife, Aunt Audrey, and my cousins Lucy and Molly. And there's Uncle George and Aunt Angelina. You already know Roxanne and Fred, don't you? I think that's everyone… Oh, Grandma and Grandpa!"

She pulled him to a stop in front of an older couple. Despite their wrinkles, he could still see a hint of red in the woman's hair, and the man's blue eyes sparkled down at him.

"Grandma, Grandpa, this is Scorpius."

"Hello Scorpius," Mrs. Weasley said, "Are you hungry?"

He'd just had time to murmur, "No, ma'am," when Mr. Weasley said, "You were in Venice, is that right? Tell me, did you get a chance to ride those Gordolas?"

"Um… Sir?"

"The boats with the singing muggles!"

"Oh, Gondolas? No, we didn't…" But then Rose was pulling him away. "They're getting up a backyard game of Quidditch; you keep, don't you?"

"Um… Yes?"

"Good! Now let's see… Albus and I are on your team as seekers, and we've got Lily, too, and Hugo to beat for us with Roxanne, she's got a wicked arm. Oh, Uncle Harry said he'd seek for us, too, so that's seven."

Scorpius was feeling fairly confident in his team until he saw the other one, which seemed to be made mostly of Aunts and Uncles. Ron was keeping, Rose's Uncle George was beating with Louis, and they were letting James seek. But more terrifying than that, Scorpius was going to be keeping against not only Dominique, who had, although she refused to play for the Gryffindor team, quite the reputation for talent among her cousins, but also Ginny and Angelina. The thought of defending his goal against two of the most ruthless professional women's chasers that England had ever seen was not appealing. He felt physically sick when Ginny gave him a saucy wink. He felt sure that this was some sort of test or initiation, he just didn't know what kind.

Suddenly, his own team didn't look so very talented. Rose and Albus were good, he knew, but no match for professionals, and he had never even seen Lily play. Hugo was rather small, especially compared to his Uncle George, and Roxanne currently looked quite harmless as she leaned against her floating broom and filed her nails. Scorpius realized with a sinking stomach that all his hopes for their team rested solely with Harry Potter.

And while he was good, one person, even a chosen person, was no match for four full grown adults with a Quidditch game to win.

* * *

><p>Really, Scorpius reflected a week later on Platform Nine and Three Quarters while Rose and Albus said their goodbyes, the Weasleys weren't nearly as terrifying as he would have thought.<p>

Actually, they all seemed to rather _like_ him. Ginny Potter had even complimented him on his Quidditch after the match was over, and Mrs. Weasley had asked him fondly the night before whether he wanted more dessert, something which Scorpius was quite certain was a question that only those in her good graces warranted. She didn't, for example, ask her son, George, or Albus or James this, and Scorpius assumed that they were all still in trouble with her for the incident the Christmas before.

Not that there hadn't been some awkward moments, of course.

One was the moment right after the Quidditch game, which Scorpius' team lost, but barely. Harry had caught the snitch in the end, bringing them only ten points behind Ginny's team, but Scorpius found that he didn't mind in the least. He was flying extraordinarily well, and he saved many of the quaffles flung at him, even by Angelina and Ginny. Rose and Albus were both very good, and Lily was flew almost as well as her mother.

Still, after the game had ended, they had all looked rather awkwardly at each other, not knowing quite how to proceed. Luckily, Mrs. Weasley had called them all in for lunch, and they had chatted quite amicably over their corned beef.

Or there was the time that Rose had led him and Albus into the kitchen, promising him that her Grandma always left cookies from the night before in the jar, and they had walked in to find Hermione pressed up against the cupboards by her husband in a passionate embrace.

"Oh!" She said a full fifteen seconds later, when she had opened her eyes for long enough to find her daughter staring at them, horror-struck. She slid to her feet from where she had been perched on the counter-top, and both Hermione and Ron had stared at them for a moment, flushed and panting.

"Geez, Uncle Ron, get a room!" Albus said, breaking the silence. It sounded rather distinctly as though he was trying not to laugh. Scorpius stood awkwardly, unsure where to look. Rose looked nauseous. Hermione smoothed her hair with her palms, a gesture Scorpius recognized as one Rose also performed when unsure of herself. Ron merely grinned.

"You know, Al, that's the best idea you've had all week. Excuse us," and he grabbed his wife by the hand and pulled her towards the staircase.

"Ron," she said quietly.

"Oh, right, it's not like I've bloody married you or anything!"

"Language, Ronald!" Hermione snapped, but a second later she was racing up the stairs after him.

"Those people," Rose had said weakly, walking out of the kitchen without getting a cookie, "Are not my parents. I swear. I was… Kidnapped, or something. Dropped on their doorstep. But I am absolutely not related to them."

Or there was the time, perhaps worst than all the rest, when Mrs. Weasley had said conversationally as she dished potatoes out to Scorpius, "Your Aunt was Bellatrix Lestrange, wasn't she?"

"Great-aunt, actually. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I killed her."

The dining room was dead silent. Rose groaned, "Grandma!" and rested her head on her palm.

"Um…" Scorpius said, "Good for you."

Mrs. Weasley looked slightly taken aback, as if she couldn't tell whether or not Scorpius was being sarcastic. "Pardon me?"

"I said 'good for you.' I've heard she was something of a beast, and while I've never personally met the woman, I'm sure you ridded the world of a menace. Or, the wizarding world, at least." He took a bite, chewed, and swallowed. Everyone was still staring at him. "Good potatoes, he said to Mrs. Weasley, who had her mouth hanging open.

"What? Oh, thank you. Would you like some more?"

And in the Weasley household, things were forgotten as easily as that.

"Scorpius!" He was startled from his reverie by Mrs. Weasley herself rushing towards him. She folded him into a hug. It was one of the best hugs he had ever received, so maternal and loving. He supposed that she had lots of practice giving very good hugs. It was the sort of hug that he had always wanted from his own grandmother but had never received.

"It was lovely of you to have me," he said, once she had released him.

"No, it was lovely of you to come! And Scorpius, dear," she called after him as he hurried to catch the train, "you're welcome any time!"

And really, that was an offer he fully intended to take.


	18. Siblings

Siblings, Scorpius soon discovered, were not always the blessing he had previously thought them to be.

For in their first week at Hogwarts, Lily and Hugo, who were every bit as close as Rose and Albus, drove their older siblings consistently insane.

"It's not just that they're annoying," Albus explained after Lily had come to him sobbing about something she had left at home for the second time that evening and he had gingerly dried her eyes and sent her back on her way, "even though they are, it's that we've been without them for two years and now they're here again. All the time."

"Honestly," Rose sighed in agreement, for Hugo had stolen (and broken) her favorite quill before they had left and she was just as vexed as Albus was, "sometimes I would be grateful to be an only child."

Scorpius snorted quietly, for he knew full well that that fate was not necessarily preferable. "Well," he volunteered, "at least you don't have to share a room with them.

"We have to share a dormitory," Albus grumbled, "and that's almost as bad. Honestly, if I have to see James snogging one more random girl, I'll puke."

"And it's not like we can just write home about it," Rose added, picking up steam now, "because we're supposed to be taking care of them, at least the younger ones. So we can't tell our parents we hate them."

Scorpius very much doubted that either one of them had ever hated their siblings, but all the same, he wondered what it would be like to have someone that you could argue with constantly and still be assured of their love.

"And what if, per say, Lily decides to date one of my friends, or something? How am I supposed to feel then? What if she started snogging you? That would just be awkward on all accounts."

"Wait, what?" Rose sat up straight and diverted her full attention from her astronomy to the boys. "Lily's snogging Scorp?"

"No, of course not," Scorpius replied, finding the mental picture of him and Lily Potter going at it slightly disturbing, "it was just a what-if."

Although, Scorpius added mentally, that particular what-if was very unlikely. Besides the simple fact that he viewed Lily Potter, little though he knew her, as almost a sister himself, she was probably the best protected girl at Hogwarts. What with the protective brothers, the myriad male cousins (and many female ones as well, most of whom were more threatening than their male counterparts), and the powerful parents, a boy might have to be legitimately crazy to date her. Or at least, dump her. Actually, it would be a close race between Rose and Lily for that covetous title of most overprotected: Lily had two brothers, but Rose had one, plus two parents somewhat infamous for their tempers.

He blanched at the thought of facing that down, and felt sorry in advance for the poor bloke who ever broke a Weasley's heart.

"Oh," Rose said uneasily, shooting her red-headed cousin a look, "not a very likely what-if, I should think."

Scorpius marveled at the fact that her reaction was so similar to his own, but then Rose added, "She's obviously already in love with someone else."

"She's eleven!" Albus exploded, and Scorpius thought that perhaps he didn't hate her quite so much as he had originally protested.

"Really, Albus," Rose said matter-of-factly, turning back to her star chart, "it's not at all unusual for a girl to fall in love at that age, to discover her passions."

"Puppy love," Albus spat.

"Not necessarily. I wouldn't underestimate her feelings, Albus. You'll only anger her if you do."

"Who is it?" Scorpius asked as Albus went on grumbling.

"I should think that would be pretty obvious, wouldn't you?"

Scorp looked over at Lily. She was sitting by the fire, which was gleaming off of her sleek red hair, and chatting animatedly with Hugo.

He blanched again. "Not…"

"Hugo?" She yelped. "Of course not, are you daft? They're cousins!"

Scorpius could see her showing no real interest in anybody else in the room, and nobody showing an interest in them, excluding James, who was frequently looking over at them protectively, and Avery Collins, who was amusedly following his friend's gaze.

"Is he a Gryffindor?"

"Yes."

"Is he a first year?"

"No."

"Is he a he?"

She shot him a dirty look. "Yes," she said primly, sweeping her things into a pile and giving her curls a haughty toss. "I don't want to play twenty questions with you, Scorpius Malfoy."

Scorpius looked imploringly at Albus, but he was still muttering about pounding the bloke's face in, so he looked back at Rose, who had stood and spun on her heel.

"Wait," he called, standing himself and reaching out to grab her elbow. He spun her back around. She looked slightly flustered at the distance, or lack thereof, between them.

"I'm sorry," he said, flashing her a grin. She swallowed. "I'll stop."

"You just don't want me mad because then I wouldn't help you with your homework," she said, but her voice was faint.

"Well," Scorpius said, grinning again, "mostly."

She sat back down and unrolled her star chart.

"One more question?"

She sighed and glared, but he just tilted his head to the side and said softly, "Please?"

She huffed, but said, "Fine. One more."

"Who're you in love with?"

He was still nursing the bruise three days later.


	19. Quidditch Tryouts

Scorpius gulped and looked at the long line of Gryffindors standing in front of him. He had suspected before that he might be insane, but in this moment confirmed it. How in the world had he let Albus and Rose talk him into this ridiculous scheme?

Oh, they were here too, Rose with flushed cheeks and Albus with wide, wary eyes.

How had the three of them thought that they, mere third years, could score a place on the legendary Gryffindor Quidditch team?

At the time, it had seemed a sensible enough idea.

The notice had been posted in the Great Hall exactly one week before tryouts: The team had needed two chasers and one keeper: seemingly perfect for the trio.

Albus had been the first one to take the plunge: "I'm trying out for the Quidditch Team," he announced boldly that night in the common room. "After all, what is there to lose?"

"Actually," Rose said timidly, "I was… well, I was sort of thinking the same thing. I know I'm not the best, but I've been practicing, and Aunt Ginny said I was flying well…"

"You are," Scorpius said, "you both have a great shot. You should definitely go for it."

"You know," Albus said slyly, sliding his eyes to him, "they need a keeper too."

"Oh, yeah," Rose said innocently. Too innocently. "You keep, right, Scorp?"

Scorpius shot her a glare. "You know I do," he said, "but I'm not trying out."

"Why not?" She said then, dropping all pretenses, "You're good. Really good. You saved goals from two of the best women's chasers in England. _Ginny Potter_ told you that you were good. You have to."

"No I don't," he said indignantly, "I don't have to do anything."

But all through the week, she had kept bringing it up.

There was the innocently promoting: "I know you love Quidditch, you owe it to yourself to play."

There was the guilt-tripping: "You owe it to Gryffindor. You're the best Keeper we have here, and you owe it to your house to play. If we lose because we get a shoddy keeper, I'm holding you personally responsible."

And there was the rather brutal: "You know that some people still don't accept you here. As a Gryffindor, I mean. But if you were on the team, if you proved you were a member of the house…"

In the end, he wasn't entirely sure which argument did it for him, but here he stood.

But now the seeming perfection of the three available positions was fading, fast. And as Scorpius reminded himself now, if things seemed too good to be true, they usually were. What were the chances, after all, of all three of them taking all three of the places on the team?

Very slim.

"Right," Amelia Proctor, 5th year, chaser, and team captain announced. "We'll just do both at one time. Chasers will attempt goals, Keepers will save them." She had her team gathered around her in a threatening clump: Avery Collins and Mason King, the two beaters, and James Potter, who had winked good-naturedly at Scorpius when he first walked on the pitch.

"Right then. Abigail Dean, you keep. Gibson Blanche and Sam Darryl, you chase."

As the three of them took to the air, the lump in Scorpius stomach grew bigger. And it kept getting bigger as more and more Gryffindors flew and were quickly disqualified.

Rose was called up in the middle of the pack, and she flew better than Scorpius had ever seen her fly before. She got seven throws out of ten past her, admittedly abysmal, appointed keeper, and was now sitting on the bleachers with the three or four other chasers who had made it past the first cut.

She waved cheerily at him as she caught his eye and mouthed, 'good luck,' and then pointed surreptitiously at the next set of bleachers, where the keepers were seated. There were only two, a fourth year girl and a fifth year boy, both of whom had flown well but saved only five or six apiece.

"Scorpius Malfoy," his name frightened him out of his revelry, and he jerked his head to look at Amelia again, "Will keep," she finished, as though she had not noticed his inattention. "And… oh, perfect, two chasers left. Up you go, Albus, Sophia."

James winked at him again as he gripped his broom tighter and took off, and Albus smiled at him reassuringly. The other chaser, an oddly tiny fourth year with sleek blonde hair, didn't spare him even a glance.

"All right then," Amelia called once they had reached their places, "off you go!"

Afterwards, Scorpius wasn't sure how many exactly he saved, or who they were from. All he was conscious of was the broom under his hands and the hoops behind him, and the fact that he was flying… well, he was flying _amazingly._ He didn't know he _could_ fly this well, but somehow he was. And when he had finished, and they had flown him back down to the pitch, he was aware that the whole Quidditch team, plus the observers in the bleachers, Albus, and the blonde, Sophia, were all looking at him a little oddly.

"Right" Amelia said brusquely, "Scorpius, you saved nine of Sophia's and five of Albus'. You two," she pointed at Albus and Scorpius, "Just stay put. Sorry, Sophia." Sophia walked away, looking dejected.

Amelia called the rest of the hopefuls down to the pitch to join Albus and Scorpius.

"Let's fly one on one," she said, "Keepers will have to fly twice."

So the three remaining keepers and the six remaining chasers took to the air again, in a flurry of quaffles and broomsticks.

The team was talking among themselves when they all landed again.

"All right," Amelia said after deliberation, "We want to thank you all for coming out and flying for us. You all did very well, but of course, we have a limited number of positions. So please be aware that our choices are based on pure talent exhibited today and not, as may be suspected, prejudice." She cleared her throat. Avery Collins was smiling at him—was this a good sign or a bad sign? Was that a pity smile? Or a congratulations-welcome-to-the-team smile? Scorpius' heart was pounding and he could feel his sweaty palms.

"So," Amelia continued, "without further ado: Chasers, Rose and Albus. And we would like to have Scorpius keep."

Scorpius let out a huge breath.

Later, of course, James would slap him on the back, Avery would shake his hand, even Albus would give him an uncharacteristic hug.

But at the moment, he could only be aware of Rose's ice blue eyes smiling up at him.


	20. Hogsmeade Visit

"Hand your permission slips to me," Mr. Filch wheezed at the line of students, "And don't think for one moment, young man, that you'll sneak past me." He stuck his finger into a Ravenclaw's chest. The boy sneered down at the offending finger and stuffed his slip into Filch's other hand.

"This is so exciting," Rose gushed, pink-faced, as she clutched her own slip to her chest.

"It is for you," Lily sniffled. "We have to just… stay here!" Hugo nodded mutely behind her.

"Aww, Lily," James said uncomfortably, for he hated to see Lily in tears. "You'll go too, when you're old enough. We all had to wait, too."

"Yeah, Potter," Avery Collins grinned, "maybe we'll bring you some Honeyduke's chocolate as a consolation prize."

Lily flushed. "I don't want your chocolate, Collins."

Avery gulped, and Scorpius marveled again at the power that a Weasley (or rather, Potter) woman had to reduce a man as brawny as Avery to fear with one glance.

"Sorry, Lils," he muttered, "It was just an offer."

He looked dubiously over at James, who rolled his eyes and pulled Avery further down the line.

"Come on, Lily," Albus said, for she was still sniffling. "Don't be like that. I'll bring you back something good, I promise."

She nodded, mutely, and Hugo stepped forward and took her hand.

"Well," he said, "See you later. Have fun, Rosie."

"Sorry," Albus said to Scorpius once they were out of earshot. "I did warn you about those younger sisters."

"It's alright," he said, for he truly hadn't cared, and had in fact found the concern the Potter brothers and even Avery had for Lily touching.

"Anyway," Rose said, "It is really exciting. Being able to go out into Hogsmeade on our own."

"Yeah," Scorpius said, grinning crookedly at her, "I almost forgot to get mine signed, packing and all to come to the Burrow." He waved his permission slip in the air. "Father signed it seconds before the portkey left."

The three of them shuffled further up in the line, handed their slips to Filch, smiled at Professor Longbottom, who was keeping watch, and made their way out into the fresh snow.

Rose breathed in deeply. "I love the snow," she said, spinning in a giddy circle.

"I don't know why," Albus grumbled, "It's cold."

"Astute observation," Scorpius laughed, wrapping his Gryffindor Scarf tighter around his neck.

"You should have worn your Weasley sweater," Rose said sensibly, adjusting her own scarf, which her Grandmother had knitted for her out of a cerulean blue and which transformed her normally light blue eyes into a deep, ocean blue color.

"Wait, what's a Weasley sweater?"

Albus shot him a look. "What does it sound like? Grandma knits everybody a sweater and that's her Christmas present to us. We get one every year, it has our initial on the front. Mine's always green. She says it matches my eyes." And Al batted his eyelashes at Scorpius comically, showcasing said eyes.

"Mine's white," Rose said, "with a Blue 'R'. But she doesn't just give them to Weasleys, she gives them to anybody who she's accepted as part of the family. It's almost a license to marry into the family, or something. She's given one to Uncle Harry since he was, like, twelve, and he married Aunt Ginny. She's given one to mum since the Christmas before the war, and she married dad. She's given one to Teddy practically since he was born, and he's marrying Victoire next summer. She even gave one to Avery this year."

Scorpius pulled open the door to The Three Broomsticks, which they had reached during their conversation, and held it for her. "Who's Avery going to marry, then?" He asked as they entered the warm establishment and Albus ordered three Butterbeers for them.

Rose hid a grin. "Well, he's probably not ready to marry her, yet."

"Roxanne?"

"No, definitely not."

"Lucy? Dominique? Molly?"

"Scorpius, I thought we decided that we weren't going to play twenty questions anymore. But no, none of them."

"James?"

"He's not gay, Scorpius!"

A curvy barmaid approached the table and delivered their Butterbeers. Albus grinned up at her, ignoring his friends.

"Fine. But if he's got a Weasley sweater, he's like… contracted to marry into the family, isn't he?"

"It doesn't work that way."

"Can you two stop, already?" Albus snapped, "I want to go to Honeyduke's. Stop arguing and drink your Butterbeer so we can go."

The next time the two of them could talk without Albus glaring at them was when he was browsing at Zonko's after the Honeyduke's stop, where both Rose and Albus had purchased slabs of chocolate for their younger siblings.

"How do you know who all's in love?" Scorpius asked her.

"What?"

"Well, you're convinced Lily's in love with somebody, you're convinced Avery's in love with somebody…"

"They both are."

"Well, how do you know that? And how do you know who?"

She smirked. "I pay attention."

"Alright, break it up, you two," Albus said, pushing through them and pointedly opening the door. "It's time to go. Plus, I promised Elsie I'd help her with her homework when I get back."

Scorpius laughed. "Do you think he's in love with anybody?"

"I heard that," Albus called over his shoulder, "and we're just friends!"

Rose shook her head at Scorpius. "It's funny how people always say that," she said, "and they're always the only ones who can't see the truth."


	21. Secret Tears

In the end, it was really all Rose's fault.

Because as he was striding down the corridor that night and he heard sobs coming from the classroom on his left (which wasn't actually such an odd occurrence at a school housing hundreds of teenagers), Scorpius never would have dreamed of pushing open the door had he not glanced in the window as he passed and caught a flash of red hair.

_Rose._

Except, of course, he wasn't that lucky. He knew how to deal with Rose. He could handle her. Lily Potter, on the other hand, he had absolutely no experience with.

But once he had swung open the door, and Lily had turned those huge, brown eyes on him, it was far too late to just leave. She had seen him; he couldn't, in good conscience, walk away.

Damned chivalry. Why hadn't he just looked in the window more carefully first?

"Um…" he said intelligently, "Are you alright?"

She was dabbing her eyes on her sleeve and trying to stifle her sobs, which racked her tiny frame. Scorpius winced and pulled out his handkerchief, handing it to her.

"You carry a handkerchief?" She asked, her voice thick with tears as she dabbed her eyes with it.

"Yes, well…" he said uneasily. She was quite right, it wasn't usual for a teenage boy to walk around with a handkerchief in his pocket. "You know what they say, never leave home without one."

"I've never heard that before," she said, "I thought it was 'never leave home without a jumper.' Or, you know, keys, or something."

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily leave home without those, either."

She chuckled slightly. "Are you this chivalrous to all the girls?" She waved the handkerchief. "Most boys wouldn't have stopped to check on me. Or offered me a handkerchief. Or _had_ a handkerchief. In fact, most of them wouldn't be wearing matching socks."

"Um… well, there really aren't… 'all the girls.' Or any girls, besides Rose."

"Really?" She looked surprised. "I should have thought they'd be swooning over you! You're polite, you're handsome, you're smart, you're on the Quidditch team. The whole Malfoy thing may kill it a little, I'll admit, but you've proved that you're normal and you're of good breeding."

Scorpius was aware that he was blushing madly. "Thanks, I guess."

"What, you've never heard all that before?" He shook his head, mutely. "You're a catch, Scorpius, or you will be someday. Much better than most of the rabble running round this place."

"You don't hold a very high view of males."

"I grew up with two older brothers," she said, drily. "I know few girls who would think highly of men after that experience."

"Speaking of which, should I fetch them? Your brothers?"

Her eyes filled with tears again. "No! I don't want anybody to see me like this! Especially not them!"

"Sorry," Scorpius muttered, meaning it as an apology for both ruining her solitude and making her cry again.

"No, it's alright, I'm just such a mess." She was crying hard again, her shoulders shaking as she desperately tried to compose herself.

Scorpius sat awkwardly. Should he give her a hug? Should he leave her alone? He wasn't equipped for this situation! Finally, he gave her several uneasy pats on the back.

Unfortunately, this had the opposite effect than he had originally intended. Sobbing harder than ever, she turned to bury her face in his chest.

Scorpius looked down at the top of her head in dismay. Why couldn't she have been Rose? Why couldn't he have been Albus, or James? He barely knew Lily! Still, he didn't want to upset her more, so he slid his hand around her shoulders.

It took her several minutes to stop crying again, and as soon as she did, she sat upright and took several deep breaths.

"I'm terribly sorry," she said, still sounding shaky. "You must think I'm the biggest freak. It's just… Nice to have somebody here. To talk with."

Scorpius gulped. Now she wanted to talk?

"Um… Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head ruefully. "You probably wouldn't understand."

"I might, you never know."

"Scorp… Can I call you Scorp?" He nodded, and she took a deep breath and went on, "have you ever been in love?"

Scorpius suppressed a smile. Rose would gloat to no end when she confirmed that Lily really was in love with somebody. "No, I can't say that I have."

"I am."

"I know." The words left his mouth before he was entirely conscious of forming them, and she stared at him, wide eyed with shock and horror.

"Is it that obvious?" She asked, eyes welling.

"No!" He hastened to assure her. "I would have no idea, except… Rose." Lily seemed to accept her name as an explanation.

"Damn!" She said, and Scorpius suspected that being raised with two older brothers had had an impact on more than just her opinion of men. "That girl's far too observant."

"Do you want me to fetch her?" Scorpius asked hesitantly, not wanting to set her off again, "because I'm sure she'd understand."

"She probably would," Lily acquiesced, "but I've already told you not only your own dating potential but also my most embarrassing secret, even though I have no idea why, since I'm fairly certain that we've never actually had a conversation before this, so can we just keep this between the two of us? This whole episode?"

"Sure. Are you certain you're going to be okay?"

She nodded, taking another deep breath and passing his handkerchief back to him. "It's just frustrating," she said, standing, "that I love him, so much, and he… well, he barely knows I exist. Much less that I'm a _girl. _But I suppose everybody goes through that at one time or another, and I'll get over it. Or something." She flipped her gleaming red hair back over one shoulder and sniffed one last time. "I don't look like… well, like I've been sobbing in an abandoned classroom? I don't want questions."

"You look fine," he said.

She shot him a smile and pulled open the door. "Thanks, Scorpius."

And then she was gone.

And it was all Rose's fault.


	22. The Final Match

**I'm hoping to have one more entry for third year, but I'm rather stumped, so this might be it.**

**On that note, to celebrate the 100th review, which is (hopefully) coming very soon, I want to not only thank you for reading and giving me feedback, but also invite you to share ideas.**

**I have maybe 25 more chapters to write, and while I do have lots of ideas, there are some empty slots. So, while I may or may not use all of your ideas, they will at least get me thinking!**

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"Right, so you all know that this is it. The final game. We've won the championship for 8 years running now, and I don't intend on ending that streak." Amelia's speech, as Scorpius saw it, was less than inspiring. In fact, it was downright depressing. "So let's play hard, play clean, and kick some filthy Slytherin arse. Agreed?"<p>

There was a murmur of assent from her team. "Good. We hit the pitch in five, so breathe and review the maneuvers we learned last week."

She sat in her seat, leaned back, and closed her eyes. James was muttering something to himself, and Avery and Mason, the beaters, were fairly boxing with each other. Albus sat, jittery, and his eyes kept snapping from one place to another. Rose sat quietly, demurely, but her face was pale and her breathing was shallow.

"Hey," Scorpius said, sitting beside her, "You alright?"

"I just…" She took a deep breath, "I just don't want to be the one to screw this up. Especially since I'm a girl, it's harder for me. People don't expect me to be good at Quidditch, they all expect me to fail."

"We don't expect you to fail, Rosie. Don't tell Albus I said this, but you and Amelia are the best chasers in the school, much less on the team, and you're both girls."

"I guess," she said, uneasily.

He took her hand and squeezed it. "You'll be great," he whispered in her ear.

"Thanks," she said, squeezing back. "You'll be magnificent."

"Proctor?" A sharp voice from outside the tent came, "Take the field."

Amelia stood and grabbed her broomstick. "This is it," she said calmly. "I have faith in each and every one of you."

Scorpius didn't feel any better.

He took his own broomstick and marched onto the field with the rest of the team, joining the Slytherin team, which had already assembled.

"One more thing," Amelia said, quietly, so the Slytherins couldn't hear her, "They'll taunt you. Don't let it get to you."

"Proctor," Madam Tanner, the Quidditch teacher, said, sounding annoyed, "if you're quite ready?"

"Sorry," Amelia said, turning back to her, "we're ready."

"I'm ready for you, Proctor," The Slytherin captain, Brett Thomas, said, "After we win, I'll take you upstairs and show you how to loosen up. I'll melt that frigid Ice Queen mask you wear." He leered at her.

Amelia, looking determinedly at Madam Tanner and not at Brett Thomas, didn't say a word. She just blinked her hazel eyes, but her hands on her broomstick were white knuckled.

Mason fairly growled at him. "You keep your filthy hands off of her, and your filthy thoughts, too, or I'll bludger you so hard you won't wake for a month."

"That's quite enough, Thomas, King," Madam Tanner said, "we go on the count of three. Nice clean game, now. One, two, three." And the air was filled with the whizzing of fourteen flyers and the cheers of countless spectators as the players flew to their posts.

"Go!" Madam Tanner bellowed as she released the balls.

Scorpius quickly discovered that the Slytherin team relied on their taunting and barely permissible playing style to push past the more talented Gryffindor team.

"House traitor," Trevor Chandler hissed at him as he hurled the quaffle. Scorpius saved it easily and threw it back to Albus.

"You know," Brett Thomas said conversationally as he followed Rose, who was holding the quaffle, "If Proctor doesn't want a turn, I'll give you a spin. I hear you're a prude, but you know what they say about redheads." She scored easily and flew away, but Scorpius wasn't willing to let that slide. He was so intent on going after Thomas that he almost let the quaffle that Nathan Burns had just thrown through the hoop. James and Albus made similar movements towards Thomas, but Avery Collins knocked him so hard with the next bludger that came his way that Thomas was almost unseated.

"Watch your filthy mouth," he bellowed.

"Keep your head in the game, Malfoy," Amelia snapped at him, intercepting the quaffle from Trevor Chandler and moving down the field. She narrowly dodged a bludger aimed at her by Kyle Dell, which Mason batted away, and threw the ball easily past Parker Medley, the Slytherin keeper.

Scorpius filled his head with his own heartbeat, his ragged breathing, and the movement of his broom beneath him. He couldn't hear the Slytherins bellowing at him as they tried to score. He couldn't hear Sydney Kelp from down below, whom he knew was announcing the game. He couldn't hear the cheer of the crowd. He had no idea what time it was, or what the score was, though he felt fairly confident that Gryffindor was winning, since he had seen Amelia, Rose, and Albus score time and time again and he had let very few quaffles through his own hoops, most of which were scored by Brett Thomas, who was easily the most talented player on the team. He stopped thinking and just felt, instinctively directing his broom left and right, diving and weaving through the air.

He was so intent on the game, in fact, that he barely noticed when James reached his arm out and snatched the snitch right out from under the nose of the other seeker. He didn't realize that the game was over until he also realized that there were no more quaffles flying at him, and that he was the only player still in the air.

"We won!" Rose squealed breathlessly, windblown and pink-cheeked, when he landed in front of her. She gave him a hug and then dashed away to give one to Albus and James.

"What was the score?" He asked Avery, who was whooping delightedly.

"80 to 250, thanks to you! You were brilliant!" he slapped Scorpius on the back and whooped again.

Scorpius joined Albus, who couldn't stop laughing, and Rose, who was still squealing incoherently.

"Scorpius!" She said, at a pitch that hurt his ears, "You won the game for us! That was superb!"

"James won the game," replied, "that catch was inspired.

"Thanks," James said, overhearing, "but it really was you."

"Bloody hell," Amelia said happily. Her strawberry-blonde hair was falling out of her tight ponytail and hanging in tendrils around her face. "I didn't know we could even play like that! I'm so proud of all of you!" She turned to Mason King, who still looked slightly unbelieving, blinking his grey eyes owlishly, and said, "Thanks, Mase, I owe you. You saved my arse countless times up there."

But instead of answering her, Mason simply hauled Amelia up into his arms and planted a kiss right on her surprised mouth.

Scorpius half expected Amelia, who was not particularly docile, to slap Mason senseless. Or try, rather, since Mason was powerfully built and was not particularly prone to being knocked senseless by a slip of a girl.

But she just peeled her mouth from his, said, "Finally!" threw her arms up around his neck, and proceeded to kiss him senseless, rather than slap him so.

In fact, they didn't stop kissing until Madam Tanner, clearing her throat meaningfully, thrust the trophy at Amelia.

"Congratulations," she said drily, "don't celebrate too wildly."

But it wasn't the party in the Gryffindor common room that was the best part of the whole thing. It wasn't the trophy, it wasn't the house points they scored, it wasn't even winning the game.

As far as Scorpius was concerned, the best part was that he felt that he was finally, _finally, _accepted by every single member of Gryffindor house as one of them.

And that was priceless.


	23. Wedding Planning

_Dear Scorpius,_

_I am up to my ears in satin. Or is it silk? One never knows. Also, tulle. And sparkles. Honest to Merlin, Scorp, sparkles! This is hell. It's not like she needs them! She's a __veela__, or at least part veela, and she doesn't need sparkles. Did you know that there are about fifty billion colors in this world? We couldn't wear sage green for example, but we could wear seafoam green. They were the same color, Scorpius. Exactly. The. Same. Or, at least we could wear seafoam green until Victoire remembered that many in her bridal party are redheads, and sticking us in green has the alarming effect of making us all look like a Christmas decoration. So now we're debating the difference between cerulean and azure. Please, kill me now. _

_Love, Rose_

_P.S. Expect frequent updates. You're the only thing keeping me sane. I can't believe you're off in Venice while I'm stuck here being stabbed by pins and suffocated by corseting!_

_Dear Rose,_

_I'm truly sorry for what you are going through. Being a man, and never having been wrapped in corseting (what is corseting, exactly?), I can't exactly emphasize. But I can definitely sympathize. Anyway, maybe if you remember that this is the happiest day of your cousin's life, and you are helping to make it special, it would be a bit easier? It's worth a shot, at least._

_Stay strong, Rosie._

_Love,_

_Scorp_

_P.S. Mother says that maybe you should try gold for the bridal party. She says it looks good on redheads. Anyway, I don't think that you could look bad in anything that you put on, so don't worry about it too much. Victoire doesn't want you to look bad, right?_

_Scorpius,_

_You are utterly unschooled in the ways of women. I shall have to educate you before some Venetian woman eats you alive. Really, Italian women are tigresses. Or so they say. Anyway, while Victoire, who is not only part veela but also part French, is normally very fashionable, she if focusing less than normal on our outfits. Which isn't to say that she wants us to look bad, necessarily (although there is a strange phenomenon in the bridal world where the bride purposely makes her party look bad to make herself look better in comparison. I know. I'm baffled, too.), merely that she is so focused on other things that she isn't too worried about our outfits. Yet. _

_And Scorpius? She read that last part of your last letter over my shoulder, and now she's convinced that gold is the answer. But not just any gold. Glittery gold? Matte gold? Dark gold? Yellow gold? Rose gold? White gold? I COULD KILL YOU! WHAT HAVE YOU GOTTON US ALL INTO? SHE HAD JUST DECIDED ON AZURE WHEN YOU HAD TO OPEN A WHOLE NEW CAN OF WORMS! _

_Damn you. And damn the fact that I like you too much to hate. You're so entirely inconvenient._

_Love,_

_Rose_

_P.S. Corseting is a panel of something that they tie around your middle and pull as tight as they can to make you smaller. Think clothing, circa 1800. Think evil. Think killer. Think stupid._

_Dear Rose,_

_I really am sorry for suggesting the gold, but it was mother's idea, if you'll remember._

_I do wish you would refrain from shouting at me—I know that if you were here, my ears would hurt, so I shall say that my eyes hurt instead._

_And I am also sorry to be so inconvenient for you in your little temper fits, but it is reassuring to know that you love me in spite of my faults, I guess._

_Don't fret too much. It's only one month more, and then I'll be there and the whole thing will be over, and we'll be back at Hogwarts._

_Love,_

_Scorpius_

_P.S I don't think it is really fair of you to stereotype Italian women in such a way. There are several very nice girls I've met here, none of whom seem inclined to eat me for breakfast. Gisela, in fact, laughed quite heartily and said that she didn't think she was at all intimidating. Besides, I am a Malfoy, and people are much more scared of me than I am of them. My very surname makes them quake in terror!_

_Dear Scorpius,_

_Could you please pretend not to be having such a good time, especially with other girls, while I'm suffering so? _

_Honestly, men have it so easy. If they wear a full set of robes and their hair has been washed in the past two days, they're fine. But girls have to dress well, to style hair, to wear makeup, etc. I hate you all._

_Also, I do __not__ have temper fits, and it is quite rude of you to say so._

_Who's Gisela, anyway?_

_And why are you so dramatic?_

_Love, Rose_

_Dear Rose,_

_Venice is abysmal. I am having an awful time and nothing is going right._

_Was that pretended enough?_

_Gisela is a Venetian girl who lives down the block. She shows me around Venice sometimes, but mostly we just talk, like I do with you. _

_Don't worry, she's not taking your place in my heart._

_Also, I'm not dramatic._

_Love, Scorpius_

_Dear Scorpius,_

_You say that you still think of me, but your letters get shorter and shorter. I am quite angry with you._

_On the wedding front, it is T minus fourteen days. _

_If I thought it was mad before, I was mistaken. It is mad, and it is about to get madder. More mad? Anyway._

_You said once that this was the happiest day of Victoire's life. I think that you must be mistaken. If she was so happy, I don't think she would be screaming so much._

_Anyway, I'm looking forward to your visit._

_Thank Merlin you're coming a few days before the wedding, because Albus flees the house in terror every time someone says 'buttercream' or 'satin,' while I am not allowed to. Yet another injustice of womanhood… Regardless, I am quite lonely._

_Don't have too much fun with Gisela._

_Love, Rose_

_Dear Rose,_

_Don't be angry. _

_I'm looking forward to my visit too._

_I won't._

_Love, Scorpius_

_Dear Scorpius,_

_I am deciding to ignore the fact that this has rapidly become a one sided correspondence. I can only assume that it's Gisela tearing you from me, and I will not hesitate to knock every single one of her teeth from her head._

_Oh, Merlin. Wedding planning is making me bloodthirsty. Help!_

_T minus 10 days to the wedding, but much more importantly, T minus 5 days until you arrive!_

_I'm positively pining away, Scorp._

_Can you spare me, your best friend, one tiny iota of your valuable time?_

_Love,_

_Your forgotten friend,_

_Rose._

_Rosie,_

_Haven't you ever heard the phrase, 'absence makes the heart grow fonder?'_

_I was immensely fond of you at the beginning of the summer, and now I'm even fonder. How could you think otherwise, you silly girl?_

_It wasn't Gisela, actually, she's been on holiday herself._

_I have no excuse, except that perhaps I wanted to write back as quickly as possible to get a return. I'm deathly boring compared to bloodthirsty bridesmaids._

_Basically, I just have no explanation. I'm a pitiful excuse for a friend._

_Forgive me?_

_Love,_

_Your groveling friend,_

_Scorpius_

_Scorp,_

_Of course I forgive you!_

_Love,_

_Rosie_

_P.S. I suppose I won't actually send this letter, since I just saw your portkey arrive out my window. But it's the thought that counts, right?_


	24. The Wedding

**This is technically the first Fourth Year chapter, but it picks up right where the last one left off, so do with that what you will.**

**Thanks again for the feedback I'm getting, it's very educational and can only make this story better.**

* * *

><p>The Weasley household was utterly chaotic.<p>

When he finally stepped through the front door, after he had knocked and had no answer, he was greeted by the sight of so many Weasleys running around that they more often bumped into each other than not. More surprisingly, perhaps, was that no one in the room spared him a glance or a word. Since the Weasleys had traditionally been very hospitable to him, he found this slightly startling.

He stood there in silence for a moment, wondering if he should announce himself, when Mrs. Weasley looked up from the stove.

"Hello, Scorpius," she called over the din of pots and pans washing themselves, "how are you?"

"Good, thank you," he shouted, and she nodded cheerily and turned back to her food.

"Scorp!" Rose squealed, barreling down the stairs at him. She kissed him on the cheek and moved into his arms, burrowing into his chest. "I was just upstairs writing you, of all things," she said into his ear. "Thank Merlin you're here, I'm going mental!"

"I can see why," he agreed, surveying the chaos once more.

"Scorpius!" Victoire said breathlessly, halting in front of him. She had been moving so quickly that she was little more than a blonde blur. "What color?"

He exchanged a glance with Rose, whom he had released as her cousin approached. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry?" He stammered.

Victoire looked as if she wanted to stomp her foot. "What color?" She demanded, "What color are you wearing to the wedding?"

"Um… black?" He said timidly as if unsure of the correct answer.

"Vicky, he's only an audience member," Rose reminded her, "It doesn't really matter what color he's in."

Victoire, who was still managed to look stunningly beautiful through her mild hysterics, relaxed visibly.

"Oh, right," she said, sighing, "there's so many of you I can hardly keep track! And don't call me Vicky." And then she hurried away again.

"Let's go outside," Rose said, pulling on his arm, "before we get cornered again. That's where Albus is, selfish prat."

Al was outside on the makeshift Quidditch pitch, throwing a ball around with James and Hugo, who had grown visibly broader over the summer.

"Hey, Scorp!" He called, landing in front of them. James, who was releasing and then catching a snitch, nodded at them. Hugo gave a little wave.

"I'm still vexed with you, Albus Severus," Rose said crisply, and she had just opened her mouth to speak again when her father opened the back door and stuck his head out.

"Rosie," he said, "you're supposed to go try on the dress."

"Again?"

Ron grinned at her. "Sorry, but I'm not willing to cross your mother, your aunt Ginny, and your cousin Victoire all at once. Hey, Scorpius," he called, looking past her, "when did you arrive?"

"Only moments ago," Scorpius said, and Ron nodded and went back in the house.

"Duty calls," Rose muttered, moving towards the Burrow. "Some auror he is, if three of his own family members frighten him so."

"What color did they decide on for the dress?" Scorpius asked Albus, watching her walk away.

"How should I know?" Albus asked pointedly. "You'd have to be bloody mental to spend more time than absolutely necessary in that house."

Scorpius grinned. "See, Rose told me you've been leaving her alone to suffer, and she was right!"

"Hey," Albus said defensively, "She's a big girl. Emphasis on the word _girl._ That," he pointed to the Burrow, from which Scorpius could faintly hear feminine voices, "is where the girls are. This is where we are. So are you playing, or not?"

And ignoring the picture in his mind of Rose's scandalized face, he picked up a spare broom and took to the pitch.

* * *

><p>The effort had been worth it.<p>

As Scorpius stood four days later observing the tent where the Quidditch pitch had been days before, he knew that it had been all worth it.

Victoire herself had deemed everything perfect at dinner the night before.

"Now there is only the matter of you," she said, turning to Teddy.

Teddy laughed. "I thought you were marrying me because you like me just as I am."

"Of course I do," she said impatiently, "but we have to take wedding pictures! Please, Teddy, please, if you love me at all, don't come tomorrow with blue hair!" She looked pointedly at his shaggy hair, which was indeed an interesting shade of turquoise.

"Fine," Teddy said, sighing. He concentrated hard for a moment, and then his hair turned violet. "Better?" He asked.

Victoire looked as if she might scream. "Black, Teddy," she snapped, "Or brown, or blonde, or, if you're really feeling the Weasley spirit, red. I don't care. But a _normal_ color!"

Teddy had pulled a face at her then, but Scorpius saw now that he had listened to her. His longish hair was a deep brown.

Teddy caught Scorpius looking at him. "Awful, isn't it?" He pointed to the top of his head. "I don't feel like myself. But, what the lady wants, the lady gets."

Scorpius, who hadn't seen any ladies all morning, agreed with him.

He distantly heard the muggle clock in the village chime twelve. Teddy took a deep breath. "Here I go," he muttered, "happiest bloody day of my life."

He marched up to the alter and stood resolutely there, though he looked rather green.

Scorpius took a seat by Mrs. Weasley, who squeezed his hand.

Victoire did have an enormous bridal party, mostly because she insisted on using all of her cousins and siblings.

There were Hugo and Lily, coming first. Lily was indeed in gold robes that belled out at the bottom and in the sleeves and fitted tightly across her torso in a light shimmering shade that lit her face up from below. Hugo was dressed much like Scorpius himself, in formal black. Lily gave Scorpius a small smile as she passed.

And then there was Rose, on Albus' arm. She pulled a slight face at Scorpius as she passed by, her red curls glossier than usual and glimmering under the August sun.

James was next, escorting Roxanne, and then Louis and Lucy, and Fred and Molly. Dominique came last, alone, and her robes were even more elaborate than the rest of the party.

Then, finally, the audience stood as one as Victoire came into view on the arm of her father, who, though it wasn't immediately apparent, due to his long hair and scars, had cleaned up for the occasion.

She looked absolutely radiant, the thousands of beads on her trailing white robes mimicking the glint of the goblin-made tiara nestled in her blonde curls.

She was beaming down the aisle at her groom, and when Scorpius turned to look at Teddy again, he didn't look green in the least, just absolutely confident.

And that, to Scorpius, was the best part of the whole wedding.

* * *

><p>"What were you pulling faces at me about?" Scorpius asked Rose later at the reception, after he had pulled her into his arms and was whirling her around the dance floor.<p>

She laughed, a little breathlessly. "I told you about the corseting, right?"

Scorpius glanced down at her waist, which, while always small, did seem tinier than usual. He noticed for the first time that she had grown into her body: where her waist used to be about the same size as the rest of her torso, now it was clearly the smallest part, with gently swelling curves above and below it.

He met her eyes again, and he noticed that she had grown into her face as well. Slightly chubby, childish cheeks had disappeared to reveal delicate cheekbones, her freckles were fading, and her eyes seemed larger than ever.

"You told me about the corseting," he replied, focusing once again on the conversation. He slowed their movements. "Should we slow down?" He asked her. "Can you breathe?"

"Don't slow down," she pleaded. "It's amazing, it feels like we're flying!"

He grinned and swung her into an even bigger circle than before, keeping a firm hold on her waist as her feet nearly flew off the ground. She threw back her head and laughed in pure delight, and the sound made him laugh, too.

When he saw Albus over her shoulder, watching them with a strange look on his face, he stopped so abruptly that she stumbled, and he threw his arm back around her waist to catch her.

"I hate to break this up," Albus said, in a tone that implied that he was enjoying this immensely, "but do I ever get the chance to dance with my favorite cousin? You've had her for three dances already."

"Of course," Scorpius said, releasing Rose, "sorry."

"Why don't you dance with Lily?" Albus suggested, "James wants to dance with her, but I say that you could do her a great favor and save her toes."

Scorpius looked over at the Potter siblings as Albus led Rose away. James looked to be concentrating very hard on the steps, and as he turned her, his sister caught Scorpius' eye over James' shoulder and made a face of comic pain.

Grinning, Scorpius approached the couple.

"May I have a dance?" He asked Lily, and James practically shoved her into Scorpius' arms.

"Thanks, mate," he said, "I hate dancing, but I'd look like an utter prat if I didn't dance with my baby sister. Now I'm off the hook!" He gave Lily a cheeky smile and strode away.

"Thank you," Lily whispered fervently as Scorpius arranged them into a dancing position. "James is a dear, but he's utterly hopeless on the dance floor. I've been watching you dance with Rose, and I'm severely jealous. I want to be whirled effortlessly, too."

Scorpius swung her out into a wide waltzing turn, and she giggled as she held on tightly. "Your wish is my command," he replied.

"Honestly, Scorpius, how do you not have a girlfriend?" She asked as he slowed their movement to catch his breath. "You're a total catch."

"Yeah," he said, blushing, "you told me that the other night. In that classroom?"

Now Lily blushed. "I wanted to thank you for that, Scorpius. It really meant a lot to me, and I do appreciate you not telling everyone. Sometimes it's hard having so much family at school with me. They all think they have a right to my business, but if they all know, that's half the school, practically." She grimaced.

"If you ever want someone to talk to who's not related to you, who's… well, an objective outsider, per say, I'll always listen."

She laughed suddenly. "You listen, too? You just get more perfect by the second!"

Scorpius heard the noise of a throat being cleared and turned to see Avery Collins standing in the shadows at the edge of the dance floor.

"Hey, Malfoy," he said pleasantly, "mind if I cut in?"

"Not at all," Scorpius said, releasing Lily, who was beaming up at Avery.

"Lils, I've been waiting all night for that dance you promised me," he heard Avery chiding her as he walked away. "I finally just had to up and snatch you from whatever bloke you had under your spell at the moment."

Rose was sitting at a round table that had been pushed aside for the dancing, staring dreamily at the couples whirling past her.

Scorpius placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Rosie."

She jerked her head, startled, and stood to face him. "Hey," she stammered.

"You through dancing?"

"No, just… taking a break, I guess. I'll have to dance with Teddy sometime, but he still won't let go of Victoire."

Scorpius looked out at the dance floor again, seeing the dancers as if for the first time.

There were Hermione and Ron, looking as if they could be dancing at their own wedding, pressed up against each other with her head nestled against his shoulder, swaying slowly to their own beat.

There was Avery, who, much to Lily's delight, was twirling her around in circles. He was so much taller than her that her feet weren't even on the ground, but she clung to him tightly, not seeming to mind.

There were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, sitting on the edge of the floor, simply holding hands with each other. Scorpius got the feeling that they knew each other well enough that words were simply unnecessary.

There were Harry and Ginny, seemingly deep in conversation as he slowly circled her around.

There was James, who was still sitting on the edge of the dance floor, but now he had found himself a leggy blonde to chat up. One minute more and she would be sitting in his lap.

And there were Teddy and Victoire, barely moving, not talking, just staring each other in the eyes.

And here were he and Rose, nose to nose in the shadows.

"Miss Weasley," he said, bowing formally and smirking up at her, "may I have this dance? I do hate to see such talent go to waste."

"Good sir," she said, placing her small, warm hand in his, "I would be more than delighted."

And they whirled and twirled the rest of the night away.


	25. Sleeping Beauty

The door to the common room swung open with a bang.

"POTTER!" A female voice bellowed. Albus half rose from his seat, saw that it was Kate Turnbow who had shouted his surname, and hastily sat back down, turning back to Elsie and the charms work he was helping her with.

"Collins," she snapped, approaching Avery, who was lounging in front of the crackling fire. He slowly opened his blue eyes and looked up at her.

"Yes?"

"Where is James?"

Avery sat up all the way. "Dunno. I saw him in the hall with that Ravenclaw girl, Violet something, when I came up. I haven't seen him since."

For one moment, Kate's eyes flashed something like sadness. Then she straightened up. "How convenient for him," she remarked, but knowing that James wasn't around seemed to soften her.

"Wait," said Avery, yawning, "why are you looking for him?"

"Well, for one thing, he's out past curfew," she said pointing to the prefect's badge on her chest.

Avery smiled. "You didn't know that until I told you, but nice try."

"Fine," she huffed, hiding a grin in acknowledgement of his statement, "his sister's passed out in the library."

Avery suddenly stood, towering over her. "Lily?"

"He hasn't got another sister." Kate's features softened slightly. "I didn't want to wake her, I don't think she's been sleeping. I keep finding her up when I finish my rounds and everybody else has gone to bed. But I couldn't bring her up myself. Will you find James and tell him for me? I've still got rounds to finish."

"I won't bother," Avery said, starting towards the portrait hole, "I'll just get her myself."

"Um, Avery?" Kate called softly, as if unused to calling him by his first name and unsure if it was alright with him, "Thanks. For taking care of it. I guess hanging out with Potter doesn't make everyone scum."

He smirked at her. "I'll try to keep his bad influence from having an effect on me," he called over his shoulder as he left.

"Don't you think that should be you?" Scorpius called over to Albus, who was sitting at a different table than he and Rose.

Albus turned reluctantly away from Elsie. "No," he said, "Lily's almost as big as I am. How am I supposed to lug her up the stairs? Let Avery go, he doesn't mind. She's practically his sister, too."

Scorpius rolled his eyes and turned back to Rose, who was staring into the fire thoughtfully.

He nudged her elbow and she jumped, her eyes snapping into focus on his face.

"What are you thinking about?"

She sighed. "Avery."

"Why?"

"Because he's hopelessly in love, that's why."

"Um… does that pertain to you?"

She smiled a little, looking at her hands. "It's not me, if that's what you mean. And I'm not in love with him either."

"Is it Kate?"

She smiled a little more. "Kate's in love with somebody else, poor, stupid girl."

Scorpius sighed in frustration, dipping his quill in the inkpot. "Is everybody in this bloody place in love with somebody?"

"What you're not?" Looking at her still caught him by surprise, sometimes. He still wasn't used to the changes he had noticed in her at the wedding, but once he had seen them, he couldn't _un_see them. It was very disconcerting to suddenly notice how beautiful his best friend was, especially now, skin glowing and curls gleaming from the crackling fire.

He looked back down at his potions essay. It was a good one, guaranteed to get him an O. "No, I'm not," he said.

"Gisela?"

He met her wide, blue eyes again. "I told you, we're only friends."

"See, that's what Albus says about Elsie. But we both know that they're lying."

Scorpius looked over at the pair. They had scooted their chairs close together and their knees were touching under the tabletop. Their heads were bent over the same piece of parchment, almost touching, and whenever Albus looked over at her, his green eyes gleamed in a way that Scorpius had never seen them gleam before, not in all their four years together. Elsie's violet gaze matched Albus', gleam-wise.

"Well, I don't lie," Scorpius said to Rose. "Do you think it'll be weird? When they get together?"

"They already spend most of their time together," Rose said, "so it probably won't be much different. Except for the snogging factor." She dotted the last sentence on her parchment and pushed it towards him. "Will you read it over for me? You're much better at potions."

He scanned the rows of her neat handwriting. "Looks fine," he said, rolling it up for her.

"It has to look more than fine!" She said urgently, "I have to be top of the class!"

Scorpius slid his gaze over to her. "You _are_ top of the class," he reminded her. "The only other one that's even close is me, and seeing as I'm only good at potions and you're good at everything else, it's likely to stay that way. Why does it matter so much, anyway?"

Her retort was cut off by the portrait hole swinging open again, and Avery strode in with Lily, who was still sleeping, cradled in his arms. He made towards the staircase for the girl's dormitory, but Rose said, "You can't go up there, boy's aren't allowed. It's cursed," so he set her instead on the couch before the fire where he had previously been laying.

"Lils," he said softly, kneeling beside her and running a finger down her cheek, "you have to wake up, it's nearly midnight."

She stirred slightly, but didn't open her eyes.

"Lily, you have to wake up now. You'll be more comfortable in your bed." He shook her shoulder a little. "Come on, sweetheart, wake up."

Slowly, her brown eyes blinked open. "What time is it?" she asked in a sleep clogged voice.

Avery grinned down at her. "Almost midnight."

Lily gasped, and sat up so quickly that she almost smashed her head against Avery's blond one. Then she clutched her head and swayed a little.

"Careful," Avery said, catching her. "You should get up to bed."

"I can't! I have a charms essay to finish!"

"Lily," Hugo, who had moved from his chair to stand at the end of the couch, said, "That's not due until next week."

"But—" she said, but Avery cut her off.

"Bed. Now."

"I can take her up," Rose volunteered, stowing her parchment in her bag, "I'm finished, anyway."

Lily stumbled as she stood, but Avery caught her again. "Come on, Lily," Rose said, snaking an arm around her waist.

"Maybe I should help," Elsie said, fetching her own bag. "Night, Al." She reached Lily and took her other side, and she and Rose hauled Lily, who looked to be half asleep again, up the staircase.

Albus moved over to join Scorpius at his table.

"That was weird," Scorpius said, watching Avery's back as he climbed his own staircase.

"Not really," Albus replied, "He's practically her big brother, too, and he's even more protective than James is."

Scorpius shot him a skeptical look.

"Honestly! I call her sweetheart too, sometimes."

"Albus."

"Okay, once in a while."

"Albus."

"Fine! But I probably would in that situation!"

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to bed." And he climbed the staircase up to the boy's dormitory, thinking that whoever it was that was in charge of all the love floating around Hogwarts, he was thoroughly sick of them at the moment.


	26. Albus and Elsie

"I am through with your nonsense, Albus Severus Potter!"

Scorpius heard the harsh female whisper cut through the air, probably from the next corridor over, and froze midstep.

"Elsie, I—"

"I hate it when you do this to me!"

Scorpius edged up his corridor a little further and peered around the corner. Indeed, Elsie and Albus were standing there, the former almost in tears, and the latter looking defensive.

"What? What am I doing?"

"You say you want to be just friends? Fine, I can handle that. I'm handling, aren't I? But you can't have it both ways!"

"I don't want it both ways! I—" Albus took an audible breath in. "What is it that you want from me, Elizabeth?" His voice was harsh, and Scorpius noticed that it was the first time he had called her Elizabeth since he met her, two years prior.

"I want you to make up your mind! If you want me, fine, we'll figure something out. But if really want to be just friends, then you have to let me move on! Stop with the completely irrational jealousy!"

"It's not irrational! You talk to Emmett all the time!" Scorpius drew the mental picture of a gangly boy with sandy hair that Elsie was often seen with.

"He's my cousin!" She shrieked.

There was a moment of complete silence. And then, a quiet, "Wait, your cousin?" From Albus.

"Yes." Her voice was thick. Scorpius peeked around the corner again. Now she really was in tears.

"Well, how should I have known? You never said anything about it! Plus, you have different last names!"

"You and Rose have different last names, and I've never accused her of flirting with you."

"She's completely bonkers for somebody else, Elsie." His voice was quieter now, and he had stopped yelling.

Scorpius didn't hear her reply, because he suddenly heard footsteps in the corridor behind him. He turned slowly, holding his breath and praying that whoever it was didn't blow his cover.

Rose.

She had just opened her mouth to call out something, probably his name, when he leaped at her, slapping a hand over her mouth and pinning her to the wall with his momentum.

She squirmed against him, eyes wide and concerned, until he held a finger in front of his own mouth to warn her to be quiet and pointed around the corner.

He took his hand off of her mouth, and she whispered so quietly that he could hardly hear her, "Scorpius, what is going on?"

He pointed around the corner again and leaned down to put his mouth against her ear. "Albus and Elsie," he breathed, "they're arguing."

He felt her shudder against him. "Sorry," she stuttered when she met his grey gaze, "Your, um… It's… Well, it was… It's cold in here," she said finally.

She crept to the corner and peered around it and he followed, pressing into her back to crane his head out.

"Are you sure they're arguing?" She whispered over her shoulder.

Scorpius shot her a glance and looked again. They were staring at each other, silent.

And then Albus, "Fine, I lied. I lied, okay?"

Shocked by his sudden outburst, Rose stood straight up again, slamming into Scorpius' body and stumbling. He threw one arm around her waist to catch her and one hand onto her mouth to keep her from crying out.

"They don't know we're here," he whispered into her curls, and she shivered again. He could feel the sarcasm radiating from her gaze.

And then Elsie: "Oh really?" Her voice was laced with bitterness. "You know, when I met you the first time… I liked you. I really did. And I sort of thought that you felt the same. But apparently I was mistaken!"

"You weren't mistaken! I don't like you, Elsie, I bloody love you! I always have! But here I was thinking that you were terrified of that, so I said we'd be just friends, because I thought you wanted that! But I'm tired of it! I hate being your friend, when I'm sitting there wishing that I was so much more to you!"

She was sobbing now in earnest. "You are more to me! Don't you know that?"

And then there was silence again. Scorpius let go of Rose and she peeked around the corner and pulled back quickly, making a face.

"What are they doing now?" He asked impatiently, a little too loudly, perhaps, for now it was Rose covering his mouth with her small hand.

"Snogging," she said, standing on her tiptoes to whisper the word in his ear.

There is something incredibly awkward, Scorpius decided then, about being in the same room as two people who are kissing as if their life depended on it. And even though he couldn't see them and they couldn't see him, he still didn't know quite what to do with himself. He couldn't even decide where to look: down at Rose's face, inches before his, down the corridor, up at the ceiling. He tried them all and none really seemed to work.

Rose, perhaps also realizing how awkward the situation was quickly becoming, dropped her hand from his face and took a quick step back.

'Perhaps we should go,' she mouthed, pointing down the corridor they were both standing in. It was the long way back to Gryffindor tower, but it was better than walking up on Albus and Elsie.

He nodded in silent agreement.

When they had walked two staircases and three hallways away and were sure that they couldn't be heard, Rose giggled.

"You should have seen the look on your face when I walked up! I've never seen you panicked before, you always seem so cool and collected."

Scorpius grimaced embarrassedly. "I thought you might blow my cover."

She laughed again. "I might have, if you hadn't tackled me."

"Sorry."

"It's alright," Rose said, suddenly quiet. "I didn't really mind."

They didn't speak for the rest of the walk, until Rose opened the portrait hole and they were both climbing inside.

"I told you they were lying about being 'just friends,'" she told him.

And that was something with which he was forced to agree.


	27. Poisonous Flowers

**Ah, High School. A wonderful and loving place where nice, tolerant people share deep and meaningful thoughts with each other, all relishing the opportunity for higer education. Um... not.**

**I bring this up for two reasons: One, it started today, and now I have a lot less time on my hands. Unfortunately, things like this have to come after homework and other such things. I still am feeling really good about this story, so I'll keep writing when I have a spare moment, but I'm afraid things might be a little slower than before.**

**Also, I can literally feel it sucking all creativity from my body. This chapter, honestly, is kind of lame. Sorry. But I'm at a funny spot in the story right now. I have every thing from fifth year up all planned out, but I need at least three more before then and I am drawing a complete blank on what those should be.**

**I'll do my hardest thinking and my best writing for you all, and I apologize in advance for any delays and thank you in advance for your patience.**

**Also, thank you to all who have reviewed so far, all of them are really meaningful to me and most of them have helped me to improve the story, so keep it up!**

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><p>"They're disgustingly happy," Rose muttered, watching Albus, who was sitting in the same plush armchair as Elsie, plant another kiss on her.<p>

Scorpius made a small face and nodded in agreement.

"I understand them wanting to be together, especially after they've been fighting it for so long, but I haven't seen him in days!"

"Rose, you have every class together."

"Well, we haven't talked in days!"

Scorpius had seen them chatting only minutes earlier, but she had already snapped the tip of a quill in her anger, so he only pressed his lips together and said, "Sorry."

"Honestly, I'm his cousin! I still have the right to see him!"

She pointed her wand at the broken quill, but her hand was trembling so badly that Scorpius was afraid that she might set something on fire, so he pulled out his own wand and mended it for her.

"Thanks," she muttered, and she looked like she might cry.

"He's still going to talk to you, you know. He still loves you."

"Well, it doesn't feel like it!" She snapped, "and that's—I mean, that's completely off the point. I wasn't upset about that at all! I just… I should be able to do that spell!" And then she stood up and stormed away.

"Al," Lily said, and Scorpius' eyes darted from Rose's retreating back to her face, "Can you help me with that potions essay? You promised me last week."

"I'm kind of busy right now. Tomorrow."

"Albus!" Lily actually stomped her foot. "It's due tomorrow! I've put it off because you said you'd help me!"

"Al, you should help her," Elsie said, "It's alright."

He started to untangle himself from her, but Lily said, "Never mind, you great prat. I'll just ask James."

"Don't be stupid, Lily, James isn't even here."

"I don't care!" She shrieked, "I'm not being stupid, and I still don't want your help!"

Scorpius caught her arm as she stomped past his table. "I'll help you," he said quietly.

They had developed a strange sort of almost friendship since the wedding. She treated him as a confidante, not hesitating to tell him things that she would have never told her real friends, like Hugo, or her brothers.

She stopped walking, but she didn't sit down until he said, "I'm much better at potions than Albus."

"Well, that's true." She unrolled a clean sheet of parchment and pulled open her bag to fetch a quill.

"What is it?"

She gave him a funny look. "The quill?"

"No, the subject of the essay."

"Oh, right. Sleeping potion. A foot and a half."

She started scribbling hurriedly, without so much as glancing in Scorpius' direction.

"Do you even need my help?"

She looked up at him over the tip of her quill and blushed. "Um… not really. Well, I'd love you to read it over and stuff, but mostly I was just mad at Albus. He did promise me he'd help. Honestly, I don't know why Elsie puts up with him, anyway. I prefer a more mature man."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "How mature is mature?"

She gave him a glare. "Mature enough to have a real conversation with, for one thing."

"Lily… this guy?"

"What guy?"

"The guy you're madly in love with? He's not… well, he's not, like, old, is he?"

"Age is just a number," she said primly.

Scorpius groaned and shoved one hand through his hair.

"What?"

"You do realize that your brothers are probably going to slaughter this guy anyway when they find out, especially if he's some 20 year old bloke, right? I just don't want to be next on their list for aiding and abetting!"

"He's not twenty! And in the scheme of things, what does it even matter?"

She continued scribbling on her parchment, clearly not wanting to hear anymore.

Scorpius closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, already anticipating the wrath of the Potter brothers.

He didn't know how much time had passed when the scratching sound of her quill stopped and she shoved the completed essay at him.

"It's disgusting, really," she muttered, looking over at her brother while Scorpius read it through.

Scorpius bit back a snort of laughter.

"It really is! I'm his bloody sister, he can't even spare me a word?"

Scorpius chuckled.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just that I had this same conversation with Rose twenty minutes ago."

"Great minds think alike," she said, snatching the essay back.

And then she threw one last disgusted look at Albus' back and flounced up to the girl's dormitory.

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><p>"You're really stupid," he informed Albus thirty minutes later once he had finally let Elsie off his lap and come to sit by Scorpius.<p>

"What? Why?"

"You remember that first Christmas, when you and Rose were writing me and she hit you with the bat-bogey curse?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Don't you think she's maybe learned more advanced magic by now?"

"Yeah, probably, why?"

Scorpius threw a discarded, crumpled piece of parchment at him. "How thick can you get?"

Albus sat up straight as understanding dawned, a look of pure horror on his face.

"Wait, Rose is mad at me?"

"Not just Rose," Scorpius said, meaningfully.

Scorpius wouldn't have thought that it was possible for Albus to look more horrified, but suddenly he did.

"Oh, Merlin," he whispered.

"You might want to try actually talking to them tomorrow."

"I talked to them today! To Rose, at least!"

"Your funeral, mate," Scorpius said. "I'll come to it, though."

"Alright, alright! Bloody mental our parents were, naming the both of them after sweet, innocent flowers. Gives the blokes an entirely wrong impression! Sweet and innocent my arse!"

"Well you can be sure of one thing," Scorpius concluded as they trundled up to the dormitory themselves, "their names won't prohibit them from hexing you until next May unless you fix this soon."

Based on the low muttering Scorpius heard that night from the bed next to him, Albus was having a terrifying dream involving poisonous flowers.

And needless to say, the next day both Rose and Lily found themselves with a very sincere apology at breakfast.


	28. The Substitute

It was mid-April when they walked into their transfiguration class to find not Professor Baker, the old and slightly senile wizard who was their normal teacher, standing at the desk, but a much younger, much prettier, and only slightly less familiar figure (at least to Scorpius), standing there.

"Hey!" Albus cried, his face brightening as they took their normal seats at the side of the classroom, "you didn't tell me that Aunt Hermione would be here!"

"I didn't know," Rose muttered, her face bright red.

"Why's she here, anyway?"

"I told you, I don't know!"

She ducked her hair, her curls, which had darkened slightly to an almost auburn shade, falling to hide her flaming cheeks.

"Sorry," Albus said in a voice that held no apology, "I just thought you might know why your own mum's in the castle."

"Well, I don't!" Rose snapped at him, still keeping her head down.

Albus ignored her, cheerily waving at his aunt when he caught her eye. Hermione demurely smiled back at him.

The long line of children filing through the door to their seats were staring at the woman standing behind the teacher's desk with open mouths, most of them swiveling a moment later to turn their astonished eyes to Rose.

"Don't you dare gloat, Albus Severus," Rose said when he opened his mouth, "Or you'll get it right back next year!"

Albus slumped back into his seat, chagrined.

"Wait," Scorpius asked him, "what's next year?"

It was Rose that answered him: "Uncle Harry always teaches the fifth years Patronus charms. James said it was hugely embarrassing for him. Now I know how he feels."

"I've always wanted to learn a Patronus!" Scorpius said, "But I've heard they're awfully hard."

"They are," Rose agreed, "But Uncle Harry usually gets most kids doing them. Everyone thought James's would be a stag, because that's Uncle Harry's and it was his dad's too, but it wasn't."

"What was it?"

Rose smirked. "A dolphin. Fred and Louis teased him mercilessly for having a 'girly' patronus. Did you know that dolphins are some of the most playful and promiscuous animals alive?"

"How fitting," Scorpius laughed. And then, after a moment: "What was Kate's?"

"Kate Turnbow?"

"Yeah."

Rose gave him an odd look. "How should I know? And why do you want to know, anyway?"

He shot her a pointed look. "Right! I still don't know it, though. Wait… Yeah, I do remember. A swan. I thought it was funny, at the time."

"Why?"

"Besides the fact that swans and dolphins are both water dwellers?" She returned his meaningful look. "They're beautiful, and graceful," her face slipped into a wicked grin, "And monogamous, and deadly."

Scorpius laughed. "That sounds about right," he conceded.

"I didn't know that you had an encyclopedic knowledge of the animal kingdom as well as the magical one," Albus said sourly from his chair.

The bell rang, and the classroom went immediately silent, all eyes trained on the slight woman at the front of the room.

"Hello," she said, "Professor Baker was unable to make it today, so Headmistress McGonagall called this morning and asked if I would stand in. I'm Professor Weasley. You're working on vanishing spells, is that correct?"

There was a murmur of assent.

"Good," Hermione went on. Or rather, as Scorpius forced himself to remember, Professor Weasley. "You've don't invertebrates, is that right?" Another murmur. "Alright, then. Today we'll be moving on to vertebrates."

She conjured a rat from midair wordlessly, and a gasp of approval from the class followed.

Professor Weasley smiled slightly. "Now, the incantation is the same, and the wand movement is the same. The spell is trickier on more complex organisms, though, so you must devote your complete concentration to the task."

She pointed her wand at the rat, gave it a small flick, and said "Evanesco." The rat vanished.

"Right, Mr.—" She looked pointedly at a Ravenclaw on the other side of the room.

"Metcomb," he squeaked, "Phillip Metcomb."

"Mr. Metcomb will try it first."

Without so much as taking a step in his direction, the rat reappeared on his desk. Phillip jumped, gulped, and tried the spell. Nothing happened.

"Try again, Mr. Metcomb," she said kindly, moving to stand before his desk. "Remember, one small flick will do."

This time, Phillip vanished the rat's left ear.

"Keep practicing," Professor Weasley said, and she moved around the room, conjuring a rat for everyone to practice on.

"Let's see you try, Rosie," she said once she had approached their table and glanced around to make sure that nobody heard her address a student so informally.

"Evanesco," Rose said clearly, and her rat vanished as quickly as her mother's had.

"Excellent work, Miss Weasley!" The Professor said, a bit louder, "20 Points to Gryffindor!"

She winked at her daughter and moved to stand in front of Scorpius.

"Alright, Mr. Malfoy."

"Evanesco," he said. The rat vanished except for the end of its tail, the tip of its nose, and its ears, which were eerily suspended in midair, twisting and turning as the rat scurried around.

Professor restored the rat with a flick of her wand. "Once more and you'll have it," she said, "Perhaps a bit smaller flick."

Scorpius sighed and concentrated all his attention on the plump rat in front of him. "Evanesco," he said, and a second later, the rat had vanished.

"Good work, Malfoy!" Professor Weasley said, "You're the second, so take 15 more points for Gryffindor. Mr. Potter?" A rat appeared in front of Albus, who screwed up his face in concentration.

"Evanesco!" He all but shouted. Every head in the room swiveled towards him. He looked down in consternation at his still perfectly whole rat. "Um," he said, looking up into his Aunt's slightly amused face, "his tail was longer before, I'm almost certain of it."

"Oh, Albus," she sighed, "keep trying."

She walked back over to Phillip Metcomb, who had now managed to vanish both of the rat's ears.

"Impressive," Scorpius said to Rose, who was leaning back in her seat a bit smugly.

"Evanesco!" Albus shouted again, waving his wand wildly. "Oh, look! It had seven whiskers a moment ago, and now it only has six!"

Rose ignored her cousin. "I may have had a bit more practice that you," she admitted, blushing. "Mum was helping me this summer. Not on rats and such, but on worms and the occasional beetle. Good pest control for her garden."

"Cheater," Scorpius said, ducking his head to avoid Albus' wand, which was perilously close to stabbing Scorpius' right eye.

"You're doing it all wrong," Rose informed her cousin, "And you're going to put someone's eye out. It's just a small flick. Here, let me show you."

She pointed her wand at Albus' rat. "Evanesco," she said, and the rat disappeared.

"Great," Albus said sarcastically, "Thanks. That's really gonna help me practice, to try and vanish a rat that's not bloody there!"

A rat appeared in front of him again, and Scorpius looked over at Professor Weasley to see her lower her wand, grin at him, and turn back to Philip Metcomb.

"Good thing your mum's a genius," Albus said under his breath, pointing his want at the new rat and pulling a face in Rose's direction.

"See?" Rose said a moment later, after the rat's tail had disappeared.

"It's nothing to do with you," Albus said defensively, though his wand motion had been much smaller, "I'm just getting better at it, is all!"

"Alright," Professor Weasley said twenty minutes later, after Al had managed to disappear all but the four tiny paws of his rat, which scampered around the table in small circles. "The bell will ring soon, but does anyone have any questions?"

A Ravenclaw immediately raised her hand. "What was the war like?" She asked.

Rose flushed again and ducked her head, curls spilling over her shoulder.

"I meant about the lesson," Professor Weasley said gently, "We don't really have time to get into that now."

"Please? Just a bit? We've learned all about it in History of Magic and I think you were terrifically brave, being tortured and all."

Professor Weasley looked desperately from the clock, only seconds away from releasing the class, to her daughter, hunched over her desk, and back to the Ravenclaw girl.

"Um…" She said, clearly buying time.

Rose's posture forcibly reminded Scorpius of a different lesson, three years earlier, a lesson on the same subject, a lesson that had almost cost him a friendship. This time, though, he knew that it wasn't him that Rose hated, so he reached over and squeezed her hand. She slid her eyes over to him, and their normally ice blue color was darkened by anger to a near cobalt shade.

"You okay?" He asked her.

She nodded her head slightly and squeezed his hand back. "I hate it when they make her talk about it. She obviously doesn't want to."

"It's Whitney," he muttered, "and nobody knows why she's in Ravenclaw, she can be so clueless."

The bell rang then, a loud gong, and Professor Weasley visibly slumped in relief. "Maybe next time," She told Whitney as she filed past her. Then she hurried over to their table.

"Rose, are you okay?" Scorpius abruptly dropped her hand.

"I'm fine, mum." Rose still didn't raise her eyes.

"I'm sorry you didn't know about this. Professor McGonagall called me so last minute, I didn't have time to get word to you, you were already in class. I hope this was alright."

"It was fine," Rose said, finally looking her mother in the eye. "You're a really good transfiguration teacher, actually."

"Thanks, Rosie. You should get to lunch, don't stay on my account. If I don't see you before I go, we'll be at the platform." She bent down to give her daughter a lingering hug, and then bestowed one on Albus, and to Scorpius' immense surprise, him.

"Bye, Professor Weasley," Albus called jokingly from the doorway, "Give my parents my best! But not too much of my best, I don't want them to think that I actually miss them, or anything."

And then, much like the four feet still doing laps on the tabletop, he scurried away before his Aunt could prove just how adept she was at vanishing charms.


	29. James' Confession

**The inspiration for this chapter came from simplypurple207, who has also been a really great reviewer, so thank you.**

**I did incorporate your suggestion into this, but I'm afraid that once I started my brain just took off and it's not exactly what you expected. Still, your idea was the spark, so I really appreciate that!**

**I'm really thrilled with the positive response I'm getting for this story, so thank you all!**

**Unless inspiration strikes between now and tomorrow, this is probably the last fourth year chapter. But I'm kind of excited about that, because when I first had this idea, they were all older, so all the things I wanted to have them do but had to have them grow into can happen now! I'll be using a lot more of my beginning, original ideas, and these are the chapters that I've been looking forward to writing since the very beginning, so I welcome fifth year!**

**For now, though, please enjoy the last fourth year entry!**

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><p>"I hate leaving this place," Rose said vehemently as the train rolled away from the Hogsmeade station. "I always have the horrid feeling that I won't come back. And so many people I may never see again—what about Mason?"<p>

"You'll see Mason," Scorpius said from where he was draped over the seats across from her without opening his eyes. "For one thing, Amelia still has one more year, and you know he'll be back for her."

"Well, we need a new beater anyway," she said grumpily.

"Rosie, there's tons of qualified beaters who'll try out next year."

"And I always feel bad for not wanting to leave because I hardly see mum and dad anymore, but I can't help the way I feel, can I?"

Silence.

"Can I?"

Scorpius cracked an eye open. "No."

Rose let out a snarl of frustration. Scorpius closed that eye again.

"You ruddy _male!_" She shouted. "You're absolutely no better than the rest of them! And here I was thinking that you might actually care, or at least listen, to what I have to say…"

"I care, okay?" He groaned, "I just didn't sleep well last night! Albus was sleep-bellowing. And now the idiot's off snogging his girlfriend!"

He attempted to pull his legs up onto the bench, too, but they were too long, so he let them fall again.

"If you're that jealous, find someone to snog yourself." He could hear the bitterness in her voice even without even opening his eyes.

"I'm not jealous. I just want my full six hours of sleep! I'm a growing boy!"

She snorted.

There was a long silence again while Scorpius built up the strength to pry open his eyes. "Rose," he said wearily, turning his head towards her. She was biting her lip, a sure sign that she was holding back tears. "Will you please tell me what's the matter with you?"

"Nothing!" She snapped. "I just don't want to leave!"

"That's not true. I leave Hogwarts with you every year and you never act like this."

"I just feel like I belong at Hogwarts."

"You're going home to your family, you belong with them, too."

"I don't really think I do."

Scorpius rolled his eyes at her. "Is there someone you belong with more?"

"I don't know… You, I guess. At school, I mean," she added quickly. "It's just that everyone's paring off."

"Like who?"

"Like Albus and Elsie. And Lily and… well, I'm not really allowed to say. And James and whoever James is snogging at the moment."

"Rose. That was one real relationship and two fake ones. Plus, Hugo doesn't have anybody."

"Well, he's my brother. It's not like I actually want to hang around with him."

"Rosie…" Scorpius trailed off for a moment, unsure whether he really wanted to complete the sentence. He hauled himself to sit upright. "Are you just feeling left out, or are you jealous?"

She opened her mouth, and then closed it with a snap. "I don't know what you could possibly mean," she said, primly.

He met her eyes and held them.

"Are you just mad that they're leaving you behind, or do you want to join them?"

"I really don't know what you mean," she said softly, still not taking her eyes from his face.

"Is there… well, is there someone you'd like to be in a relationship with?"

She flushed a deep red and closed her eyes. "No," she said faintly.

"Are you sure?"

She opened her eyes again, catching his grey gaze.

"I'm…" she started.

And then the compartment door swung open with a bang.

Scorpius, who realized that he had been leaning in towards Rose, sat up.

"Rose," James said, "can I ask you a question?"

Rose took a deep breath, seemingly composing herself.

"You really are like dad," she said, "Always barging around places where you're not wanted."

James blinked once. "Did I interrupt something?" He asked.

"No," Rose sighed, "I was just saying. What's your question?"

James shot a look at Scorpius. "Well," he said, "It's kind of… private."

"I'm very good at keeping secrets," Scorpius drawled.

"James, he won't tell. What is it already?"

He let out a huff of air and buried his face in his palms. "This is so embarrassing," Scorpius faintly heard him say, "Asking advice from a bloody fourth year when every girl in school is drooling over me."

"Sit up and speak up," Rose ordered, "And keep that ego in check."

"Fine," James said. "How do you get a girl to like you?"

"I'm not personally looking for any girl to like me, actually," Rose said, with a mischievous glint in her eye. Scorpius bit back a smile at James' glare.

"I was speaking more in general terms," he said through gritted teeth.

"Is there a particular girl you're thinking of?" Rose asked innocently, "Because as you were so kind to point out, most of them fall at your feet as you pass."

"Yeah, well, isn't that the rub," James said with a humorless smile, "Because I want the one who doesn't."

"And who would that be?"

"You know bloody well who," he growled.

"Perhaps you should clarify," Rose said, with an angelic smile gracing her features.

James looked at her hard for a moment, as if wondering if it were worth the trouble. "Fine. I'm mad for Kate, over the moon, and she hates me. See the problem?"

"See now," Rose cooed, "Doesn't it feel better to have it all out in the open?"

James rolled his eyes. "I don't care about how it feels, I just want her! And it's not just that I want any girl, because I've tried loads of that and it doesn't work. It's her, her specifically. It's maddening!"

"Well, here's your chance," Rose said airily, examining her nails, "Because she's right there in the corridor."

"I can't tell her," James said in a panicked tone, "She'll hex my bollocks off! She hates me, that's the whole problem!"

"Well, you have to start somewhere," Rose reasoned.

"I'm not talking to her!"

"Fine! Then smile at her!"

James turned again and caught her eye. Then he flashed her the grin that Scorpius had seen weaken the knees of half the girls at Hogwarts.

Kate studied him through the glass for a moment, and then her face broke into a tentative grin of her own.

"See, that was good!" Rose said cheerfully, "She smiled back! There may still be hope!"

"What, you didn't think she would?"

"Usually when you have an interaction with her, you either jump down her throat or sexually harass her."

"Okay, so what else do I do?" James asked, ignoring Rose's last comment.

"Well, for starters," Scorpius volunteered from his corner, "stop getting together with other girls. She wants to be special, not just one in a long line or the second choice."

James gulped. "All girls?"

"It shouldn't be that hard," Rose asserted, "You've already been with most of them, you don't need a second try."

James glared at her again. "Fine. Fine, I'll stop dating other girls. Any other words of wisdom?"

"You could try being nice to her," Scorpius suggested drily. "I'm told girls like it better when blokes don't try to make them cry."

"Alright," James grumbled, standing up, "I'll try it. It's worth a shot, right? And, um… thanks." And then he slid the compartment door shut again.

"He really does have the worst timing," Rose said ruefully, and she had just opened her mouth to say something more when another rap came at the door. She shut her mouth and answered the knock.

"Something from the cart, dear?" Scorpius heard the trolley witch say.

And by the time that they had purchased and eaten their sweets, they were back in London, and their previous conversation was forgotten.


	30. Fatherly Advice

**I'm really sorry that it's taken me so long to update: school's really caughten up with me and I simply haven't had the time. Also, I'm going away for the long weekend, so I won't be able to write then, either.**

**This is the first chapter in Fifth Year.**

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><p>A soft knock sounded on the door.<p>

"Come in," Scorpius called distractedly, examining the hem of another of his school robes and then tossing it in his nearly full trunk.

"Scorpius?" His father's voice came quietly for the door, "Your portkey leaves in fifteen minutes."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just trying to find the robe with the hole in the hem so I don't take it to school with me." He picked up another robe, peered at the lining, and stuffed that in his trunk too.

"Are you planning on folding those?" His father asked him sarcastically.

"What?" Scorpius looked up from another robe. "Oh, right." He lazily pointed his wand at the trunk and his clothes floated up, neatly folded themselves, and settled back down inside.

"Scorpius," his father said again, clearly annoyed with his inattention, "I've been meaning to talk to you before you go to the Burrow again."

Scorpius looked up from his final robe—the one with the hole in it, of course—and said cautiously, "What about?"

"You have no idea how much I envy you," Draco said quietly, moving to the window and looking out at the Venetian canal.

Scorpius, who knew that his father often started anecdotes with seemingly unrelated issues, listened politely, flicking his wand at a pile of jumpers, which subsequently folded themselves and came to rest in his trunk.

"You have grown up in a world without fear," Draco went on, "And you are extraordinarily lucky for that."

Scorpius added the last item, a pile of freshly laundered handkerchiefs, to his trunk, which shut itself with a snap, and moved to stand by his father at the window.

"But in some ways, you are at a disadvantage."

Scorpius turned to face his father and realized with a jolt how similar the two of them were. He had grown to match his father in height and stature, and the picture of the two of them standing before the bright window, both clothed in black, both tall, lean, and blond, was a curious one. It was like looking in a mirror, Scorpius thought, albeit a mirror that showed twenty years into the future.

"Living in eternal fear," Draco continued, "has a way of pushing one to live life to the fullest. Have I ever told you how I met your mother?"

Scorpius wrinkled his nose, searching for a story that he had heard ten years before. "No," he said finally.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"

Scorpius pictured Albus' face on the first day that he met Elsie, and chuckled. "Yes," he said firmly.

Draco smiled a soft smile, lost in his memory. "Your Aunt Daphne was a classmate of mine," he said, "Not one that I was particularly close to, but we had a mutual friend who threw a small party a few years after the war ended. Daphne came, and she brought her younger sister."

Scorpius pictured his father at that age, looking much like he himself did now, seeing his mother for the first time, all liquid dark eyes and spilling curls.

"I was enchanted," Draco said. "Really, for a moment I wondered if a spell had been cast. But even after I knew that it was truly love, I almost didn't act. Who could have loved me, after all, the greatest villain of the day?"

Scorpius opened his mouth to protest this fact: surely Lucius, at least, had won that title.

"But she didn't care," Draco went on, not noticing. "She said that people could change, and she said that she thought that I had changed. And I married her a year later. My point is, Scorpius,that had I not lived in fear for my whole childhood, I would have been too afraid to act. But I knew what it was to know that you could die at any moment, so I screwed up my courage and just acted."

The room stood in silence for a moment, Scorpius standing awkwardly, unsure of what to say, while his father reminisced.

"Anyway," Draco concluded, "I just wanted to remind you to live, really live, while you still have the chance."

"Scorpius," Astoria's voice called from the hallway, pulling closer as she rounded the corner, "your portkey leaves in… Oh, Draco, I didn't realize that you were up here."

For one split second, Scorpius saw in her the girl that his father had loved since the moment he saw her: full of life and youth and confidence in a man that no one else had believed in, the woman whose love had arguably reformed, as Draco had said, 'the greatest villain of the day.'

And then she was his mother again, warm and caring, moving to stand between her husband and her son, uniting them as a family.

"Yeah, I know," he said, levitating his trunk with a snap of his wrist, "I'm ready to go whenever you are."

And after they had all apparated to the deserted courtyard, Scorpius stood looking at the pair of them in that last moments before the portkey glowed blue and transported him across the continent and to what felt like his second home.

"Goodbye," he said to his parents as they stood, arm in arm, watching him go.

"Goodbye," they echoed, and then his whole world was spinning, dissolving that last image of them both smiling tenderly at him.

* * *

><p>"Can I sit down?"<p>

The low voice came from the doorway to the kitchen, but the Burrow was so black in the midnight hour that Scorpius couldn't tell which Weasley male it was until he moved into the kitchen and into the light cast by the flickering fireball that Scorpius had conjured.

Ron.

Of course.

"Um, sure," Scorpius said quickly. Although, oddly enough, Rose's father seemed to genuinely like him, Scorpius still felt awkward and unsure around the Auror.

"That's a good idea," Ron said, nodding at the mug of hot cocoa that Scorpius cradled in his hands. "I used to come down here and do the same whenever I couldn't sleep."

"I hope I haven't intruded," Scorpius said quickly.

"Mum loves you," Ron assured him, "I don't think she'd mind if you wrecked the whole place. Why aren't you up in bed?"

Scorpius grimaced. "Bit crowded," he mumbled, but Ron laughed.

"You don't have to lie," he said, "It's Albus, isn't it?"

"Yeah. He talks in his sleep. Or rather, shouts in his sleep. I can't count the times I've had to physically restrain the blokes in our dorm room from cursing him awake."

Ron laughed again. "Exactly like his father, that one. Scary, isn't it? Harry used to talk in parseltongue in his sleep, I think that was the worst."

Scorpius chuckled a bit and took a swig of his hot cocoa.

"Listen," Ron said suddenly, "I've been wanting to ask you something for a while now. As a totally impartial outsider, and not as someone who has a vested interest in the situation."

"Alright," Scorpius said, but it sounded more like a question.

"How do you feel about Rose?"

Scorpius highly doubted that Ron could act as a disinterested third party when it came to his precious daughter, but he admired the man for broaching a subject that was clearly so uncomfortable for them both.

"She's my best friend," he assured Ron, "and nothing more. I don't have designs on her."

Ron raised his eyebrows speculatively. "I used to say the exact same thing about her mother. But I'd been barmy for her since second year or so."

"Well," Scorpius said awkwardly, "I don't. Love her, that is. Not that your daughter isn't loveable, or anything like that, I just don't personally love her."

Ron made a humming sound, and then said in a dubious voice, "Well, either way, look out for her, won't you? They never think they need help, these women, and I know it sounds mad, but I'd feel better if I knew that you kept an eye on her."

"I don't think she'd like that very much."

"Humor me."

"I've actually been doing it since first year. I just haven't told her yet. I value all of my fingers."

Ron laughed. "Feisty, isn't she? Like mother, like daughter."

He rose, stretching his arms above his head, and moved towards the doorway.

"Hey, Scorpius?" He said, pausing there, "I want to tell you something. And I'm going to hate myself in the morning for saying this, because I swore that no one would ever lay a hand on my girl, especially not a Malfoy. But I think you should know—if you want something, you have to act for it."

Scorpius took another sip of his hot cocoa, carefully avoiding Ron's knowing eyes.

"It's easy for you to put things off, to do them tomorrow. For me, it was never like that, and I still almost left things too late. By the time anything happened between me and Hermione, we were almost certain that we wouldn't live to see morning. That's when I realized that I couldn't live without her, or at least without telling her how I felt."

Scorpius hid his smirk in his mug, recalling the similar conversation he had had with his own father just days earlier.

"Fighting with your best friend," Ron went on oblivious to Scorpius' amusement, "that's the best feeling in the world, that is. Knowing that the person who knows you best—who loves you best—has your back, that's incredibly powerful. But fighting for your best friend? It's the most bloody terrifying thing in the world."

Ron shuddered a bit at the thought, and went on: "And you have nothing driving you. You have no impending doom pushing you to act. So when you finally decide to do so, you're going to have to screw up every ounce of the Gryffindor courage you supposedly possess."

"Thanks for the advice," Scorpius said, rinsing his now-empty mug in the sink, "But I really don't love your daughter."

Ron didn't say anything but, "Goodnight," to him, but Scorpius swore he heard him muttering as he climbed the stairs: "You better bloody love her, what's going to happen to the betting pool if you don't?"


	31. Prefects

"This is so exciting!" Rose gushed at him over her plate of toast and eggs at breakfast the next morning, far too early to be nearly as chipper as she currently was.

"I'm sorry?" Scorpius said blearily over his own cup of cocoa, blinking hard to force the last bits of sleep from his eyes.

"That we're both prefects!" She exclaimed, tearing a piece of toast in half and stuffing the whole thing into her mouth.

"Rose," her mother rebuked her, "Try taking actual bites of your food."

"Sorry, mum," she mumbled through her mouthful, then swallowed and turned her suddenly anxious eyes towards Scorpius. "Wait," she said worriedly, "You are a prefect, right?"

"I already told you I was," he reminded her, remembering his excitement at the small badge that had fallen into his hand upon opening his annual Hogwarts letter.

"Right," she said, cheerful again, "Well, isn't it exciting?"

He grunted yes, laying his head down on his arms and closing his eyes.

"Why are you so tired, anyway?" He faintly heard her ask.

_Because I was up at all hours discussing you and our supposed love with you father last night, _he thought.

"Because your ever charming cousin has a tendency to share his dreams with the rest of us, via very loud commentary," he said.

"Do you mean me?" Albus asked brightly, bouncing into the kitchen and taking a piece of toast for himself.

"Yes, I mean you, you prat. And just know that I hate you for being so blissfully asleep last night while you condemned me to a night of listening to you bellow at the dragons you were apparently fighting in your head."

"Hey, those dragons were scary! I had to get the golden egg!"

"Albus," Rose remarked dryly, "That's not even an original dream. You're just remembering all those stories your father told you from the Triwizard Tournament and putting yourself in his place."

"It's still terrifying!" Albus said defensively, and then turned to Scorpius, "Ever since she's been made prefect, she's been insufferable. She always thinks that she's right."

"Yes, we prefects tend to get that way."

Albus groaned. "Aw, bloody hell, you too?" He asked, to a sharp cry of, "Language, Albus!" from his Aunt Hermione, who was waving her wand at the dishes in the sink.

"Sorry," he said to his aunt's back, "But now I can't have fun with either one of you, without your turning me in or taking house points!"

"Why don't you go commiserate with your father?" Hermione suggested, sliding her wand back into her pocket and sauntering out of the room to join the rest of the adults on the lawn.

"Maybe you should just behave yourself," Rose said, following her mother out of the room, "Or you could always try bribery!"

"Why you?" Albus asked Scorpius when his cousin had left them. "I mean, I'm happy for you and all, but why you?"

Scorpius simply raised his eyebrow at Albus, who rambled on: "I know you're second in the class, after Rose, and you have a virtually spotless record, and all the teachers adore you… Oh. Never mind. That's why you."

He got up and pushed his plate of toast away sullenly.

"I hate having perfect best friends."

Being a prefect, it turned out, wasn't all that much fun anyway.

Besides missing the whole train ride to Hogwarts, which ultimately wasn't such a loss since Albus spent the whole time sulking with Elsie in a different compartment than their usual one, night patrols cut out a huge chunk of their evening.

The only upside, as Scorpius saw it, was that the long walks through the Hogwarts corridors gave him the opportunity to have conversations with Rose, whom he patrolled with, without Albus interrupting almost every night.

"This is the worst part of the job," Rose was saying now, after they had sent another blushing couple back to their common room, "I hate catching people snogging. Can't they find anywhere better to do it?"

"Not if they don't want their whole common room watching," Scorpius responded, pulling open the door to a broom closet that was a particular favorite of the Slytherin Sixth Year that had a different girl on his arm every week. It was empty tonight.

"Well then can't they just… hold it in?"

"It doesn't really work that way, Rosie."

She thrust her lit wand up into his face and he blinked away from its glare.

"I suppose you have a lot of experience?" She demanded.

"I wouldn't call it snogging."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Was it Gisela?"

Scorpius sighed. "Yes, actually, it was. She kissed me before I left. But it was definitely not a snog."

"I knew it!" Rose said, finally removing her wand from under his nose. "I knew she had designs on you!"

"Why are you so angry?" Scorpius asked her, slightly angry himself at her reaction. "It didn't mean anything!"

"That is such a typical _boy_ thing to say!" She hissed. "I feel sorry for the poor girl! Here she is, thinking that you might at least care for her, and you're in another country, walking around at night with another girl, saying that she doesn't mean anything!"

"First of all, I live here, so the other country point is totally invalid. Second of all, you're my patrol partner, I have to walk around at night with you. And third of all, she doesn't care about me that way either! It was just a friendly goodbye, and frankly, it wasn't even all that great."

"Oh, right, it was just so _friendly!_ I go around snogging all my friends. In fact, just to get it out of the way, I think I'll lay one on the next friend that I stumble across!"

"Don't you dare," he growled. "Seriously, Rose, why do you even care?"

"I'm sorry for caring that my best friend doesn't trust me enough to tell me something so important," she said acidly, stalking down the corridor ahead of him. "Or, rather, I thought I was your best friend, but apparently I was wrong!"

"Don't be stupid, of course you are."

"Oh, so now I'm stupid?" She actually stomped her foot, and then said, "Why don't you just go reply to the love letter you got from her earlier tonight? I don't actually need your help here."

"You read my mail?" Scorpius shouted, furious now, reaching for her wrist to spin her to face him.

"It fell open!" She protested.

"Letters don't fall open!"

"Well," She said uncomfortably, "This one did. And it wouldn't have mattered if I had read your mail, because this one was in Italian! The so-called language of love!"

"And if you had read it," he said exasperatedly, "You would know that it was telling me all about her _boyfriend!"_

There was a moment of stunned silence. "She has a boyfriend?" Rose asked cautiously.

"She does now!"

"Oh," Rose said, "Sorry. That was quick of her."

"Yeah, I guess it was," Scorpius answered, feeling his anger ebbing away, "But I don't really care, because like I said, we're just friends."

They rounded the corner to find Kate Turnbow, who had been promoted to Head Girl and was now living in her own dormitory off of Gryffindor Tower, hurrying towards them.

"I forgot to warn you," she said brusquely once they had approached her, "James is one of those that you have to watch out for. He knows every broom closet in the place and most of the girls, too."

"My cousin James?" Rose asked her.

"Yes," Kate answered, her face softening slightly as it always did when James came up in conversation before hardening again, "which may make it more awkward if you find him, which you're bound to sooner or later. I can't count the number of times that I found him snogging some poor girl or other in a broom closet out here last year and the year before." Her voice held the merest hint of sadness.

Scorpius exchanged a meaningful look with Rose.

"I don't know," Rose said slowly, "I really don't think he's like that anymore. He's changing, he really is. He hasn't been with a girl all summer, and I haven't seen him look at one twice since we got here."

Kate looked shocked and slightly pleased. "I was wondering," she said. "He does seem different. The last time he talked to me, in fact, he seemed almost _nice._ It was strange. Well," she said, moving past them, "Finish up your rounds. I'll see you both tomorrow."

"So clueless," Rose said mournfully, staring after her, "So, so clueless."


	32. Noah Smede

"I'll gladly remove his hands from your body, if you like."

"Albus," Rose said in an irritated voice, "Noah's hands are nowhere near my body."

"Well, his eyes are. I can remove those, too."

Rose rolled her own eyes. "Noah Smede is totally harmless," she informed Albus, who was staring moodily in the boy's direction.

"No, he's not," Scorpius said, glaring at the sixth year who was lying in front of the fire, leering at Rose, "And I'll be more than happy to help with his dismemberment, should he ever get near you."

"Honestly, I can take care of myself. Besides, your assistance won't be necessary, since I have no intention of ever letting him near me." She leaned forward to take another book out of her bag, her blouse gaping slightly. Noah's mouth slid into a greedy grin. Scorpius sent him another Malfoy-patented glare, and the smile slid off of his face.

"Well, I think he has different intentions," Scorpius growled, turning back to her.

"How sweet, anyone would think that you actually cared about me," she shot, unrolling a fresh slip of parchment.

"Rosie," Albus said solemnly, "Family has to protect each other."

"That doesn't give Scorpius a right to control me, too."

"We're not controlling you!" Albus protested, "We're protecting you! And Scorpius is practically your cousin." He shot a look at Scorpius.

"Right," he agreed hastily, "I'm practically your cousin."

"See?" Albus asked her earnestly. "And speaking of family, I'm sure James and Hugo and the rest of them will be more than willing to help."

Rose let out a frustrated snarl. "Stop trying to protect me!" She hissed at them. "I'm a big girl! Plus, I have every right to make my own decisions!"

"Well, make a decision," Scorpius mumbled under his breath, "Because he's coming this way."

"Hey, Weasley," Noah said, pushing past Scorpius to lean against the table and shooting Rose what he apparently thought was a fetching half-smile.

"Hello," she said distractedly, fishing though her bag for another quill.

"So, I was thinking," he said, his voice dropping to a low whisper.

"Oh, really? Is that something you frequently do?" Rose gave him a sweet smile and pulled her quill out at last, only to promptly drop it on the floor. She stood up and bent over to fetch it, and Noah leaned over, ogling her backside. Scorpius felt his hand twitch toward his wand.

Noah straightened up as she sat again, and there was silence for a moment.

"You were thinking?" Rose prompted him.

"Oh, right! I was thinking, there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up…"

"Very good!" Rose said. "You've been reading the postings!"

Noah grinned. "Yeah, I have. Anyway… Would you want to come? With me, I mean? I'll keep you warm, I promise." He smirked at her again. Albus made a retching sound.

"As tempting as that offer is," Rose said, barely hiding her grimace, "I'm already going with somebody."

"Oh." Noah's face fell. "Who?"

"These two."

Noah turned towards Albus. "I didn't know you two were going out!"

"I'm her cousin!" Albus yelped incredulously.

"Oh, right. You two, then?" He asked Scorpius.

"I'm practically her cousin," he said, echoing Albus' earlier words.

Noah looked confused again. "Why won't you come, then?" He asked Rose.

"Sod off, Smede," Lily's sharp voice came from behind him, "She already said no." Then Lily edged past him, pushing him away from the table and sitting down with a thump.

"Well…" Noah said awkwardly, scratching his head, "Goodbye, then."

Rose let out a screech as he walked away. "Stop it, all of you! I hate it when you talk to people like that, just because they had the nerve to talk to me!"

Albus looked abashed, but Lily only said, "Smede's a creep," and pulled out an essay of her own.

"Go away," Rose said to her rudely. "Why don't you go and bother Hugo?"

"Because he's off writing to his light o' love," Lily shot back at her.

Scorpius groaned. "Him too? Am I the only one in this bloody place who doesn't fancy somebody?"

Rose flushed a deep dark red, but she said, "I don't fancy anybody!"

"Who is she, anyway?" Albus asked his sister curiously.

Lily lowered her voice. "A _muggle._"

Albus leaned back, shocked. "No way!" He crowed, "That's so… weird!"

"Her name's Claire Jones," Rose informed them all, "She lives next door to us. She and Hugo almost never talked until this summer. He's even told her already, about the wizard thing, because he wanted to owl her."

"How did she take it?" Albus asked, "Finding out the boy that she liked was a supposedly-fictitious magical being?"

"After she stopped talking to him for a week? Surprisingly well. She just needed some time to adjust, I guess. They've been owling almost every day. It's hard for her, though, because she hasn't told her parents yet and they keep wondering where all the owls are coming from."

"He's like you," Lily told Albus disgustedly, "He found a girl he can tolerate and suddenly he ignores the rest of us. All I have left is Rose and Scorp, and Merlin knows that that won't last long, either."

"Wait," Scorpius stammered, "What? Why won't we last long?"

"Never mind," Lily said knowingly.

"Hey," Hugo said, approaching the four of them and plopping down into the chair next to Lily's, "What are we talking about?"

"You," Lily shot, "And your Claire Bear."

"I told you not to call her that, Lily," Hugo barked at her.

"What does she look like?" Albus asked his cousin, grinning and elbowing Hugo in the side.

"Blonde, Green-eyed, absolutely gorgeous," Hugo answered.

"He's gone," Lily confirmed. "If he only liked her for her looks, he would have talked about her… um… assets."

"Hey," Hugo said, "I'm not a pig!"

"You're a male," Rose responded, "And those things are very similar."

And then she stood and said to Scorpius, "Time for patrol."

"See you tomorrow," Scorpius said to Albus, turning to follow Rose out of the portrait hole.

He felt for his wand as the pair walked the corridors: he had promised not to dismember Noah Smede, but he had never promised to not to hex him until next May at the first provocation that presented itself. And really, that was an opportunity that he was more than prepared to take advantage of.


	33. Patronus

"All right, now I want you all to think of the happiest memory that you have."

The room, which had been abuzz at the prospect of having the famous Chosen One for a teacher, went suddenly silent as all the Fifth Years pictured the best moments that they had ever seen in their heads.

"Does everyone have one?" Harry asked the group.

There was a murmur of assent, and Harry nodded.

"Good. Now the incantation is 'Expecto Patronum.' Repeat after me please: Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto Patronum," the class murmured.

"I've been waiting for years to see what my Patronus would be," Rose said out of the corner of her mouth, "I hope I can conjure one!"

"Has there ever been a spell that you couldn't do?" Scorpius asked her.

"Well, no, but mum had trouble with this one, too!"

"You'll be fine," Scorpius assured her, "It's me I'm worried about."

"Do you have your thought?" Harry asked them, moving through the crowd of children.

"I think so," Rose said nervously.

"Good," Harry said, speaking to the class once more, "Now we'll just practice the spell on its own with no boggarts or dementors at first. Besides being protection from dementors, Patronus charms can also be used for communication. Whenever you're ready."

The Room of Requirement, which Harry had expanded to fit the Fifth Years from all four houses at once, was filled with the waving of wands and the shouting of spells. Not one Patronus burst from the end of anybody's wand.

"Right," Harry said, "that wasn't bad. I've never had anyone get it on the first try. The key is to focus completely on the joy and then sort of let it come out through your wand: Expecto Patronum!"

Suddenly, a giant stag burst from the end of his wand and cantered around the room, galloping in circles around different students.

The stag opened its mouth and spoke in Harry's voice: "Try again, when you're ready. Try a different memory, perhaps, if the first wasn't strong enough."

The students all cast their charms again, and this time, Albus let a stream of silver trickle out the end of his wand.

"Good, Al!" His father said, "You're almost there! Once more."

Albus screwed up his face and bellowed, "Expecto Patronum!"

And then, a silver shape burst from his wand as well, hanging ethereally in the air for a moment before also forming the shape of a stag and trotting around the large stone room.

"Hey, Dad," he breathed, "Look! It's like yours!"

Harry laughed and recast his own Patronus, and the two stags raced around the room together.

"Good job, Al," Harry said, ruffling his son's hair and then moving onto the next student.

"How did you do that?" Rose asked him, frustration lacing her voice, frantically recasting her own spell. Nothing happened.

"I dunno," Al shrugged, "I just thought of something really pleasant and then it sort of flowed out of my fingers and into my wand."

"What did you think of?" Scorpius asked him, trying the spell for himself. No success.

Albus blushed. "I just saw Elsie in my head. Once I concentrated on it, it was easy!"

"Well, that's fine for you, but I'm not madly in love with anybody!"

Albus sighed. "I don't know, think of… think of Rose, or something. She makes you happy."

Scorpius rolled his eyes in Albus' direction, but he took up his wand again, readjusting his grip.

_Rose. Think of Rose._

Scorpius thought of the first time he had seen her on the platform, and the first time he had spoken with her, when they shared a compartment on the train that first day. He thought of her clapping, the only one in the Great Hall, once he had been sorted into Gryffindor. He thought of her warm curls, glowing red in the firelight as she read over an essay or studied for a final exam. He thought of her tender embraces, her slender body molded tightly against his, and he thought of her distinctive scent, of roses, earth, and sugar cookies.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" He yelled, concentrating hard on the happiness that was filling him, and a silver trickle seeped out of his wand.

_Concentrate,_ he ordered himself. He thought of her glowing blue eyes, and her generous smile. He thought of the feel of his hand over her soft mouth, as it had been when they had watched Albus and Elsie argue in the corridor. He thought of dancing with her at the wedding, seeing her head thrown back in laughter as he whirled her in the night. He thought of the passion in her eyes when they argued.

The silver trickle was bigger now, slowly forming itself into a four-legged shape.

_Focus, Scorpius!_

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the primitive sensations in his head: the color red, the smell of roses, the sound of feminine laughter.

"Wow," he heard Rose breathe.

Albus chuckled. "That's ironic," he said.

Scorpius opened his eyes slowly, and started laughing himself.

A giant lion had erupted from the end of his wand, padding around him in great circles.

"Is that yours, Scorpius?" Harry asked, approaching the trio.

Scorpius nodded, still laughing, still incredulous at the thing that he had made.

"I'm impressed," Harry said, watching the lion prowl up and down the long room, "It takes incredible strength to make something that big." Then he smiled, suddenly: "I guess there's no doubt left that you belong in Gryffindor, with that Patronus!"

Harry moved away again, onto the Ravenclaws clumped in the corner. Only one had managed to produce a Patronus, a giant silvery owl that fluttered above the gathered students.

Scorpius watched interestedly as his lion stalked through the groups of students. Albus recast his own Patronus, and the lion snapped playfully at the stag's heels as it sauntered past.

"That's really frustrating!" Rose cried.

Scorpius' lion winked out of existence as he lost his focus on it and looked over at Rose.

"Why am I the only one who can't do it?"

"You'll get it, Rosie," Scorpius reassured her, moving to stand right behind her.

"Now," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders. She stared up at him with enormous blue eyes. "Think of something that makes you the happiest you've ever been."

"Like what?" She whispered. "What did you think of?"

"You," he whispered back, and then grinned. "You could think of me."

"Ha ha," she said sarcastically, but she turned forward again and leaned back into him.

"Concentrate," he said into her ear.

She closed her eyes for a moment and was very still. And then: "Expecto Patronum!"

Unlike Scorpius', her charm was barely more than a murmur, but it seemed to do, for in the next instant, a silvery shape had burst from her wand, soaring above their heads.

"What is it?" He asked her, "I can't tell!"

Rose laughed, a delighted sound. "It's a dove!" She exclaimed, as the shape, which was indeed that of a graceful white dove, fluttered in slow circles around them.

"Well done, Rosie!" Harry said. "I've never seen a dove, before. Or a lion, for that matter." He shook his head amusedly, and moved back over to the Slytherins, who were exclaiming over the ferret that a slight girl with black pigtails had just produced.

Scorpius recast his lion, finding it much easier to do so a second time, and the dove fluttered to a rest on the creature's massive, furry head.

"That's a funny picture, lion and dove," Albus laughed, summoning his stag, which had been still cantering around the room, back to the trio.

"That's an even funnier one," Scorpius retorted as the stag came to stand by the other two patronuses.

And for the rest of the afternoon, the three of them took delight in watching the perfect tableaux of lion, dove, and stag.


	34. James and Kate

**I'm really sorry that this has taken so long to put up, but life's gotten busy.**

**I want to reassure you (those of you that care, anyway) that I'm not giving up on this story, but updates will be less frequent now, probably mostly on the weekends.**

**I'm also increasing the rating to T, not because anything naughty is happening, but just as a procautionary measure.**

**Once again, anything familiar is J.K. Rowling's.**

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

><p>James Potter never did anything half-heartedly.<p>

This was a fact that was rapidly becoming clearer and clearer as Scorpius got to know the boy.

It made sense, then, that he wouldn't be partly angry, or partly happy, or, as the case was now, partly in love.

"I'm so tired of this," James was saying to Rose, looking sullenly over at the armchair where Kate was reading.

"James," said Rose impatiently, for she was studying for her OWLs, "It's been nine months—maybe—since you've been without a girl. The rest of us manage quite well."

"You wouldn't know," James snapped at her, "If you've never started, it doesn't count. Plus, it's not just any girl. That part's going fine. It's _that_ girl."

"Have you told her?" Scorpius asked doubtfully.

James snorted. "You want me to march up to Katherine Turnbow, Head Girl and top of the class and just say, 'Katie, I love you. I want to marry and have children with you.' Are you mental?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "That might be just a bit off-putting. But a compliment or an invitation to Hogsmeade or even a well-timed, 'Kate, I fancy you,' might not be misguided."

"You're leaving in three months, James," Rose pointed out, still buried in her notes, "After that, who knows? You probably won't see her again, unless you have a reason to. It's sort of now-or-never, don't you think?"

"Whoever said Gryffindors are ripe with courage was seriously mistaken," James said under his breath, "But I guess I'll give it a go. Wish me luck."

"Good luck," Scorpius said to his back.

"He's doomed," Rose said casually, rolling up a finished essay and sitting back in her chair.

"I'm sure he appreciates the vote of confidence," Scorpius answered drily.

"Well, she hasn't hexed him yet, so that's something," Rose said, watching her cousin approach the girl.

"She's actually sort of smiling," Scorpius said, but then, as Kate's small smile faded and she stood, he added, "Never mind."

"Are you mad?" They heard Kate shout, and then James, who had stood too, responded, "Of course not! It's you I'm worried about!"

"Oh, how flattering," Kate said scathingly, one hand on her wand, "calling a girl insane is sure to land her in bed with you, is that what you think?"

James pushed a hand through his shaggy hair. "No, that's not what I think. And I don't want you in my bed, Katie."

"Not good enough for you, is that right?"

"No! I wasn't trying to… to seduce you, or something, I was being serious!"

"How can I be expected to believe that?" Kate shouted. The whole common room, which was silent but for their arguing, was looking at the pair now. Scorpius saw Albus and Elsie's confused faces at the next table over, Avery's stunned one from by the window, and Lily's knowing one from her chair by the portrait hole.

"Should we break it up?" Scorpius asked Rose quietly, and she responded with a serene, "It's good for him."

"You honestly expect me to believe that you _fancy me?" _Kate continued, her voice oddly shrill, "You honestly want me to think that you _care for me_?"

"I do!" James shouted back at her, taking a step in so that they were nose to nose.

"No, you don't," Kate said, and her voice cracked slightly on the last word. "You can't. Not you, who's had every girl in the castle. I'm just a game, because I'm practically the only one left. You only think you want me because you can't have me!"

"That's what your brilliant mind came up with?" James' voice had dropped to a deathly quiet pitch, and Scorpius saw people all over the common room leaning in slightly to better hear him. "That you're some sort of _game?_ It couldn't just be that I finally realized what I wanted, could it? No, of course not, I'm not that decent, so I must have some ulterior motive, right? You want the truth? The truth is that I fell in love with you. I don't know how the bloody hell it happened, but it happened."

Kate had started crying, and James took a step closer to her, reaching out his hand to wipe her face. She jerked away from him.

"I haven't even looked at another girl twice for nine months now, because I've been trying so damn hard to be good enough for you. You want commitment? Fine. You want monogamy? Fine. I can do that. I have done that, and I'll keep doing it. So what else do you want from me, Katie? I know you have feelings for me, I can see it in your eyes."

Kate sobbed, a gasping sound that filled the common room, and then said, "I can't have feelings for you, I won't let myself. You'll just break my heart, or go around with another girl. I've been watching you for six years, I know you, James. I won't let you do that to me!"

"I'm not going to do that to you!"

"I'm so stupid!" She cried, sniffling noisily. "I've always said that any girl who fell for you was an idiot, and now… Oh, Godric, I'm so stupid!"

James face, which had been filled with hurt and rejection, took on a determined air. "Katie," he said, reaching for her hand, which she wrenched from his grasp, "You're not stupid. Just… just give me a chance, won't you?"

"Don't call me Katie!" She shrieked, "You don't _get_ to call me Katie! That would imply that you actually _cared_ about me!"

James smiled a hard, bitter smile. "Katie," he said, taking a step toward her. She took a matching one back.

"Katie," he said firmly, and this time she didn't move when he stepped towards her, only looked up at him warily.

"Katie," he whispered, taking the final step in.

"Don't call me that!" She whispered fiercely.

"I can call you whatever I damn well please!" He fairly growled, and then he leaned down and smashed his lips over hers.

It didn't look like a particularly pleasant kiss, Scorpius thought. It was hard and rough, and Kate was bent over backwards with the pressure of it. They were clearly still arguing, and James didn't do that halfway, either.

James pulled back after an instant and looked down at Katie, whose face was wet with tears and who was gasping for breath.

"James," she said after a moment, in a plaintive voice.

"I'm sorry," he said, voice filled with anguish, "I didn't mean to… to hurt you. I just… I needed… Why is it so hard for you to just believe me? To just believe I've changed?"

"It isn't!" Kate sobbed, "I believe you! I just don't know if I can do this!"

James stepped closer again, but this time there was no anger in his posture. "We'll make this work," he promised, and then he kissed her again.

This wasn't a brutal kiss, this was a soft one, a slow one, one that made the students who had all been watching the argument hoot and holler at the couple, who didn't seem to notice.

Kate pulled back first this time, smiling through her tears.

"Just so you know, James Sirius Potter," she said casually, "If you ever hurt me, you'll never have children with anybody."

But James only laughed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to sit down on the plush couch behind them.

"Whatever," he muttered into her neck, "You wouldn't hex me."

"Oh, wouldn't I?"

"No, you wouldn't."

"James, I really would."

"You wouldn't dare."

"You're not threatening, you know."

"Katie, everyone's threatened by me."

"I'm not."

"You should be."

"Why is that, exactly?"

"Well," Scorpius sighed to Rose, "At least they'll never be boring."

She smirked. "I told you it was good for him."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered.

But Rose only stood. "Time for patrols," she said.

"Hey," Scorpius said, "I bet you Five Galleons that we find those two in a broom cupboard sometime in the next week."

Rose only smiled. "That," she said, "Is a bet that I'm willing to take."


	35. Patrol

"Rose," Scorpius said, for the fourth time, "It's time for patrol!"

"I can't go!" Her wide blue eyes were frenzied, and she pointed at the mound of parchment in front of her. "I have to study for my OWLs!"

"Rose, you're a prefect!"

"My OWLs are a week away!" She shrieked maniacally. "I'm going to fail them all!"

"First of all," Scorpius said in an irritated voice, for they were going to be late and Kate wasn't going to be pleased, "We all have OWLs in a week. Secondly, the only way that you could fail is if you didn't even show up for the test!"

Rose huffed, pulled the quill out of her knot of hair, and shook it out.

"This is important," she hissed, her curls flying wildly around her face. She gathered her hair up in one hand, coiled it, and the stabbed the quill back through the soft twist of hair. "You're a big boy, you can patrol by yourself for one night."

"Fine," he hissed back, "You can just let Kate rescind your duties! See if I care!"

He stalked away from her, faintly hearing her call, "She won't do that, you know!"

Scorpius wanted very badly to slam the portrait door shut behind him, but he wanted to get back into the tower later, and the Fat Lady tended to be vindictive if she was slammed, so he restrained himself, only muttering angrily as he made his way to the Great Hall, where the prefects convened every night.

"There you are," Kate said when he finally reached her, "I was beginning to wonder. Where's Rose."

"She's not coming," Scorpius said, trying to keep his voice steady. "OWLs."

Kate accepted the word as an explanation, and said, "Never mind, since Zane landed himself in the hospital wing over his own OWLs, we've had to go three at a time. You can just go with Cassandra tonight, and things will be even again."

Scorpius looked over at Cassandra, a pleasant Hufflepuff with a long blonde plait.

"Hi," she said shyly, making her way over to him.

"Hi," he said back.

They walked in awkward silence for a moment, and then she said, "I'm sorry Rose is gone, but I don't mind this. Ever since Zane had his panic attack, Kate's had me go with the Ravenclaws."

"Oh," Scorpius said.

"They're nice," Cassandra added quickly, "But I was virtually on my own anyway, since they always went off to snog in a corner." She blushed. "I probably wasn't supposed to say anything, though, so just…"

"I won't tell anybody," Scorpius reassured her, pulling out his wand to look in the first classroom they came across.

"Thanks. I don't want them to be angry with me, they're really nice people."

"Of course," Scorpius said vaguely, and they lapsed into silence again.

"So, did you and Rose get in an argument?" She ventured after they had passed through another corridor.

"I guess you could say that."

"I'm really sorry. I hate arguing with my boyfriend."

"Oh, um… We're not… we're not, like, dating, or anything," Scorpius stammered.

"You aren't?" Cassandra looked genuinely surprised. "But you always look so… close."

"We're only friends," Scorpius reassured her.

"Sorry," Cassandra whispered again, "I didn't mean to intrude."

"It's fine," Scorpius said, shooting her a look out of the corner of his eye and wondering if she apologized for everything.

They reached the broom cupboard that was notorious for housing the Slytherin Sixth Year who, now that James was through with them, was the most popular among girls at Hogwarts.

Scorpius put his ear up against the door. He faintly heard the murmurs of two voices, one feminine, one entirely otherwise.

Grimacing, he pulled open the doorway.

Scorpius couldn't see much in the dim light of his lit wand, but he was absolutely certain that the boy, who had his back to the door, completely blocking the girl from view, was too big and broad to be the Slytherin.

Scorpius cleared his throat.

The boy shifted slightly, startled, and Scorpius caught a flash of red from over his shoulder: the girl's hair.

_Rose?_

He shut the door with a bang.

"Was somebody in there?" Cassandra asked, looking utterly perplexed.

Scorpius nodded.

"Listen," he called through the door, his heart pounding, "I won't cite you this time. Just… just get back to the dorms, both of you. If you're still here in five minutes, I'll take points."

Then he gripped Cassandra's wrist and hauled her down the corridor.

"Who was it?" She asked.

"I don't know," he said, letting her go, "I didn't see. I didn't see either of their faces."

"Why didn't you call them out?" Cassandra asked interestedly.

"It's… it's their first time, probably. I just think everybody deserves one free pass."

"Oh," Cassandra said, nodding contentedly, "That makes sense."

"Let's just be done for tonight, alright?"

"If that's what you want," Cassandra said faintly, and then, as he started down another hall, "Didn't you say that we were going back to check on them?"

"Cassie," he said, "I was bluffing."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's fine."

He dropped her off at the Hufflepuff dormitory, where she went inside with a cheerful, "Goodbye!" And slowly walked back to his own tower.

He hadn't seen the boy's face, or the girl's, and there hadn't been a distinguishing feature on either of them. All he knew was that the girl was a redhead, and there were dozens of those in the castle.

He was overreacting. He had to be.

He said, "Arboretum," to that Fat Lady who had swung open sleepily before he had even mentioned the password, and made his way inside, still convincing himself that there was no possible way that the girl he had seen could be Rose. She was studying, and as he knew, when she was studying, nothing would rip her from her notes.

But when he approached the table at which she had been sitting, there was no trace of Rose behind the notes that were still heaped there.

"Hey," Scorpius said, approaching Albus, who was sitting at a table with Elsie and Lily, "Where's Rose?"

Albus shrugged. "I don't know. She left about five minutes after you did, and I sort of assumed that she had gone to patrol after all, so I didn't ask her. Why?"

"She wasn't at patrol," Scorpius informed him, "I thought she would be here."

Albus shrugged again. "She's probably at the library, or something."

"Yeah, probably," Scorpius agreed.

"I don't know," Lily inserted, "I just got back from there, and she wasn't there."

Albus gave his sister a speculative look. "I thought you said that you were at the kitchens."

"Yeah," Lily said, blushing red, "Well, I went to the library also."

Albus opened his mouth to speak again, but the portrait hole swung open, and Noah Smede walked through the opening, whistling to himself.

"Hey, Malfoy," he said genially as he passed the boys to go to the boy's dormitory, "Potter, Lily, Elsie. Beautiful night, isn't it?" He winked at them, and then climbed the stairs.

"That was weird," Albus remarked, "I've never seen him like that before. What do you reckon he was doing?"

"Probably snogging someone in a broom cupboard," Scorpius said glumly.

Albus laughed. "Maybe, although I don't know anyone who would kiss that. You could cite him, though, for being out after curfew. That would certainly make my night."

He stood, stretched, and bid Scorpius goodnight, climbing the stairs himself, Lily and Elsie following his example a moment after.

Scorpius sank down into Albus' vacated seat.

Noah and Rose?

He could hardly believe that it was true, but he was certain that if it was, it was very, very bad.


	36. A Surprise

The next time that Scorpius saw Rose was at breakfast the following morning.

It was the morning of the final Quidditch match, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, and Rose was tearing apart a piece of toast.

"Where were you last night?" Scorpius asked as he sat down beside her and took a bite of his own eggs.

Hugo, who had taken Mason King's place as beater, and who seemed, unlike his sister, to have no problem eating, said through a mouthful of sausage, "Weren't you in the common room all night?"

"No," Rose snapped, "Not that it's any of your business, either one of you. I went to the library later, I needed to look in another book for my transfiguration essay."

Hugo rolled his eyes at her and stuffed another whole sausage in his mouth.

"That's weird," Scorpius said, "because Lily said that you weren't there."

"How would Lily know?"

"Because she was there."

"No, she wasn't. At least, not while I was there."

"Are you sure you were in the library?"

Rose shot him a glare. "Do you want to ask Madam Hutcherson? Because I'm sure she remembers that I was there."

"Sorry," he muttered, "Just checking."

"Why do you even care?

"Excuse me for worrying when you disappeared," Scorpius said defensively, "I can assure you that it won't happen again."

"What, you were worried that I got lost somewhere between _212 Ways to Tame a Dragon_ and _214 Unusual Uses for Wolfbane_?"

"No," Scorpius returned sarcastically, "I was worried that the old copy of _The Monster Book of Monsters_ took your leg off and you bled out."

"Seriously, Scorpius," Rose pressed, ignoring Albus, who had just sat down blearily, "Why does it even matter?"

"Oh, are you talking about last night?" Albus asked, yawning and absent-mindedly salting his pumpkin juice.

"Yes," Rose hissed, "And more importantly, why Scorpius is acting like a jealous boyfriend."

"I'm not jealous!" Scorpius shouted, "I was just curious! Albus was worried, too!"

Albus nodded in agreement and took a swig of his pumpkin juice, which he immediately spit back out. "I hate mornings," he groaned.

"Hey," Lily said approaching the table, "Good luck on the game today, all of you! You'll crush Ravenclaw!"

"Lily," Scorpius said, "Was Rose in the library last night?"

"How should I know?" Lily said, "I was in the kitchens."

Albus exchanged a glance with Scorpius. "Last night you said you were in the library."

Lily blushed a deep red. "Did I?" She said lightly, "How odd, I wasn't. Oh, look at the time; I should go get a good seat."

She hurried off, and Albus shook his head. "I worry about that one," he said sadly.

"Seriously," Rose snapped, finally pushing her plate away, "Let's just drop it. I was in the library. End of story."

"Fine," Scorpius retorted, standing. "End of story. Did you see Noah there?"

"If I saw Noah Smede anywhere," Rose said, stalking out of the dining hall, Scorpius close on her heels, "I would run in the opposite direction."

"Sure you would," Scorpius said, irritably.

Rose spun on her heel and stood nose to chin with him.

"Are you accusing me of lying?" She hissed.

"Only of stretching the truth," he said back.

"Why would you even think—"

"Noah looked _really_ happy last night. Like his biggest wish had just been granted. And we all know that his biggest wish is you. It's just really coincidental that you were gone at the same time, especially since you skipped patrols."

"Yeah, that is a coincidence. But that's all that it is—a coincidence."

Scorpius sighed. "You know what?" He said taking a step back from her, "If that's your story, fine. I believe you."

"You obviously don't!" She shrieked.

"Yes, I do. And I have a game to get ready for, I'll see you later."

* * *

><p>He didn't talk to her as they sat in their tent, waiting for the game to start. Or maybe she didn't talk to him. Regardless, by the time that Amelia gave her final speech as captain, they weren't even looking at each other.<p>

"This really is it," Amelia said, "The last time that we're all going to play together. Avery, James and I are all graduating, and I know that whoever the new captain is, they'll do a great job. But this is the final game for us, and I really want us to go out there, play as a team, and show Ravenclaw how Quidditch is really played!"

"Rose," Scorpius said as they waited for the whistle, "we can talk about this after the game. But for right now, let's just…"

"Truce," she said, offering her hand. Scorpius shook it as the whistle blew.

And the game began.

* * *

><p>Amelia was sobbing as Madam Tanner handed her the Quidditch Trophy for the third time in her term as captain.<p>

"I just can't believe it!" She sobbed into Scorpius' ear as she made the rounds through her teammates, "I'm just so proud of us!"

Lily Potter bolted out onto the pitch, hugging Rose and Hugo, James and Albus, and even Scorpius before halting in front of Avery.

"Good job," She said politely.

"You know what, Lils?" He said in return, "I'm really tired of keeping this a secret."

"Really?" She whispered.

"Yeah, really," he said in return.

Albus lunged at the pair as Avery bent his head to kiss Lily, and if Rose and Scorpius hadn't reached out to hold him back, he would have knocked them both to the ground.

"I'll tear his arms from his body!" They heard, and Scorpius looked over to see a similar scuffle breaking out: Amelia and Hugo physically restraining James from attacking his best friend.

"Hey," Scorpius said sharply to Albus, who was still struggling against the two pairs of arms that held him back, "Stop it, she has a right to her own choices."

"You enormous hypocrite," Rose said from Albus' other side. Her red hair glinted in the sun, and Scorpius' heart suddenly sank in his chest. _Red hair. A boy's back, broad and muscular._

"This isn't about us, Rose," Scorpius said back, for now he knew that it wasn't about either of them, it was about a different couple, and he now he knew exactly who.

"Four bloody years older!" Albus growled, "Sick and disgusting… can't believe…"

"Hey," Scorpius said again, remembering what Lily herself had said to him years earlier about her love for Avery, "Age is only a number. In twenty years, you won't think anything of it."

"But this is bloody now!" Albus howled, "Not twenty years later!" Still, he struggled a little less.

"Look, mate," Avery said to James, "I'm really sorry, but we tried not to. It just happened this way. And then we didn't tell your right off, because—"

"Because we didn't want you to lose your marbles," Lily finished.

"How long have you been going behind my back?" James demanded.

"A month," Lily said, "At most. I'm sorry it was a secret. But it had to be!"

"Alright," another male voice interjected, and Scorpius saw that both Albus' and Rose's parents had come onto the field. Harry and Ginny were staring at their daughter with twin expressions of shock, and Hermione had approached Albus. "Break it up," Ron continued, "We don't want any bloodshed."

"Come on, Albus," Hermione said, "Let's go." She pried him from Scorpius and Rose and walked him away from the group.

"Do you see this?" James bellowed, pointing at his sister, "Of course I want bloodshed!"

"Let me tell you a little something about your best mate dating your sister," Ron said, firmly gripping his nephew's arm and steering him away from Avery and Lily. "It's bloody terrible, at first. But then you come to realize that she'll be snogging _somebody,_ and you'd rather have it be somebody you know and trust than some random bloke off of the street…" Their voices faded as they walked further away, and then there was only a pregnant silence.

"Lily, dear," Ginny said at last, "Why don't we have a chat?"

Lily shot a guilty look at Avery, and then sighed, "Coming, mum."

Amelia spotted Mason King beaming at her from the side of the pitch, squealed, oblivious to the otherwise somber attitude on the pitch, and dashed towards him.

"Maybe we should go," Scorpius said quickly, grabbing Rose's arm and looking pointedly at Hugo, and the three of them hurried away, leaving Harry and Avery alone on the pitch.

"We need to talk," Rose growled when they had moved away.

"Um… Bye!" Hugo said quickly.

"Yeah, we do," Scorpius agreed. "Look, I'm sorry. I know now that it wasn't you that I saw last night. It was obviously Lily, I just… didn't know it at the time. I'm really sorry."

"Wait," Rose said, "Saw?"

Scorpius blushed. "Yeah, I saw a couple last night on patrol, snogging in a broom cupboard."

"And you thought that it was me and NOAH SMEDE?"

"Hey," Scorpius said defensively, "The only thing that I saw was the boy's back and the girl's hair, and you and Lily have almost the same color hair."

"Why did you automatically assume that I would go around snogging random boys in broom cupboards?"

"I didn't automatically assume! I only did when I got back and you weren't there, and then Lily said that you weren't in the library!"

"Well, that was obviously a lie."

"And I know that now!"

They were shouting again, standing close together, breathing hard.

"Look," Scorpius said quietly. "I made a mistake. A massive mistake. I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions, I'm sorry that I accused you of... Well, you know. And I'm sorry that we're still fighting. But can't you just accept my apology?"

Rose looked back at the pitch, and Scorpius followed her gaze to where Lily and Avery were now standing close together again, holding hands, as Ginny and Harry looked on, still uneasy. He looked at Amelia and Mason, quietly talking on the sidelines. He saw Kate, who had obviously taken over where Ron had left off, for she was rubbing James' shoulders soothingly and speaking consolingly to him, and he saw Albus and Elsie, looking much the same. He even saw Rose's parents, walking slowly back to the Potters, arm in arm.

And then he saw Rose, looking up at him. "Yes," she said, "I can."

"So," He asked her, as they walked back up to the castle, "Why do you think Noah was so happy last night?"

She laughed, and looked him right in the eyes. "I really haven't the foggiest," She said.

And this time, Scorpius believed her.


	37. Arrival

**This is the first Sixth Year chapter, there will probably be seven.**

**Once again, I own nothing that you recognize from the original books/movies.**

* * *

><p>"Scorpius!"<p>

Rose was waving wildly at him out of her window, and he was worried that if she leaned out any farther, she might tumble out and fall three stories to the ground below.

"Is that safe?" His father asked him, warily eyeing the house, which was visibly swaying in the wind.

"Oh, yeah," he said as Rose's head disappeared from the window, "They've got charms on it."

"I see," Draco said, but he still sounded dubious.

"I'm sure it's perfectly fine," Astoria added, but she, too, sounded cautious.

The front door flew open with a bang, and Rose came flying out towards Scorpius.

"Hi!" She said, pulling him in for a hug, "Welcome back!" She looked up at his parents, and added, "Welcome to the Burrow, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy."

"Hello, Rose," Astoria said, still looking up at the wobbly house.

"Come inside," Rose said, taking Scorpius' arm, "You can drop your things off, and then head out back. That's where everyone else is."

"Who's here?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"All of us, and about ten extra, too. Avery's here, of course, supposedly for James, but we all know that's not true, because Kate's here, too. Elsie's out back with them, also, and Claire comes up from the village sometimes."

"Claire?" Scorpius asked, for although the name was vaguely familiar, he couldn't think of why.

"Hugo's muggle girlfriend," Rose said. "Also, Teddy and Victoire had their baby last week, Celia, and Victoire asked her Aunt Gabrielle to come visit, and Great-Aunt Gabby brought her husband with her, too."

"That's a rather large group," Astoria said, deftly sidestepping one of the potholes in the road. "How in the world does your grandmother do it?"

"Oh," Rose said vaguely, "We make do. Mum's rather good with expansion spells. Scorp, I'm afraid there's about ten blokes in your room this year."

"That's alright," Scorpius grinned at her, "More people to help me wake Albus when he starts babbling all night again."

"Scorpius, mind your manners," Astoria said, "You should never bother your host like that."

"Oh, it's all right," Rose assured her, "Al needs it."

She led the small family inside, which was, for the moment, apparently empty.

"You know the drill," She told Scorpius, "just take your bag up to the usual room."

Scorpius hefted his trunk up to Albus' room and found it so full of trunks, cots, and discarded clothing that he couldn't find a place to set it, finally decided to just throw it on the cleanest cot, and went downstairs again to find Rose holding a letter out to him.

"I forgot to tell you, the letters came today. Yours was with them, though I don't know why."

"We were supposed to be here hours ago," Draco interjected, looking around the living room, "but we missed the first portkey."

"Oh." Rose shrugged. "Well, here it is, anyway. What are your scores? I got all of my OWLs, and I got O's on most of them. I only got an E in potions, but I probably would have failed if you hadn't helped me, so thanks."

"Yeah, no problem," Scorpius said, ripping open his own envelope. A supply list, the letter, and a prefect's badge all fell out, but Scorpius only opened the final sheet of parchment.

He unfolded it slowly, heart pounding.

"Hey," Rose said, reading over his shoulder, "That's really good! O's in everything except Astronomy and Charms, and you got E's in those, so at least you passed them all."

"Congratulations, Scorpius!" Astoria said fondly, squeezing him in a hug and reading the grades for herself."

"We're very proud of you," Draco said, tearing his gaze from the living room couch and fixing it on his son. "We really should be going, though, I have to work tomorrow."

Rose blinked at him. "You can't," She said simply, "Grandma thought that you were staying for dinner, she prepared a special meal!"

"I'm really very sorry," Draco said, looking uneasy again, "But I'm afraid that we've—"

"Come meet them, at least," Rose said, leading the way to the back yard. "You can't leave without meeting them."

"Well—" Draco started, but his wife cut him off.

"Of course we can't," She said firmly, "And we have to thank them for taking Scorpius for so many years."

"There's no way that your Grandma is letting them leave," Scorpius said in Rose's ear as they walked into the backyard.

"Nope," She agreed cheerfully. "I hope their plans weren't too pressing."

"Witch."

"That's not even insulting," She said, "Merely accurate. Grandma, the Malfoys are here!"

"Hello!" She said, hurrying over to the couple, "It's so nice to meet you! Your son is just the nicest boy!"

"Thank you," Scorpius heard his mother say as Rose led him up the hill to the Quidditch pitch, "we hope he's not too much of a bother…"

"Why haven't you been writing?" Rose demanded once they were out of earshot, "I haven't heard a peep all summer, or gotten a picture, or anything! And I needed a picture, I almost didn't recognize you!"

"Don't be stupid," Scorpius said, without any real malice in his voice, "I haven't changed."

"Scorp," Rose said, stopping abruptly, "You're so… big!"

"I didn't grow an inch."

"Maybe not height wise," Rose said, eyeing him, "But you're much broader. And you've let your hair go shaggier."

Scorpius shook his head ruefully. "I need a haircut," He said.

Rose reached up and ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the ends playfully. "I don't mind it," She smirked.

"Yeah?" He asked, tugging on the ends of her hair.

"Yeah," She confirmed, a little breathlessly, and started walking once more.

"Just so you know," She told him as they approached the pitch, "Albus has some big news."

"Did he fail all his OWLs?"

"None, actually, but he only got As. This is bigger than that, though. He's really excited, I wanted to let him tell you."

Indeed, as they approached the pitch, where Albus, Lily, Hugo, James, Louis, Avery, and Dominique were flying, the rest of the group sprawled on the grass below them, Albus seemed to be nearly bouncing in midair.

They all flew down when they saw Scorpius and Rose approaching, and Albus fairly skipped up to the pair.

"Did you tell him?" Albus demanded of Rose.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course not."

"Good. Guess what!"

Scorpius shot a look at Rose, who was clearly stifling a laugh.

"Um… what?"

"No, guess!"

"Albus, just tell me."

Albus' face fell, and then brightened again. "Fine. Guess what I am this year?"

"A sixth year?" Scorpius guessed, and Albus shook his head quickly.

"I mean," he said, fidgeting in his excitement, "I am that too. But I'm also… THE GRYFFINDOR QUIDDITCH CAPTAIN!"

"Congratulations!" Scorpius said, a broad grin on his face, "You'll be excellent!"

"He better bloody put me on the team," Lily said, pushing past him to give Scorpius a hug. "You've grown," she whispered in his ear.

"Yeah," he grimaced, "Rose said that, too."

He greeted the rest of the kids, Avery with a slap on the back, Elsie with a quick hug, Hugo with a handshake, and Kate with a friendly nod, before smiling genially at the rest of the group.

"Hey," he said to Rose, nodding at a petite blonde girl who was unfamiliar to him, "Who's that?"

"That's Claire," she said, and then she took his hand and pulled him over to greet the muggle girl.

"Claire," Rose said, "This is my good friend, Scorpius Malfoy."

Claire smiled sweetly at him. "You're a wizard too, right?"

"Right."

She laughed. "It's so strange for me to be around you all and not be magical myself. So, how long have you and Rose been together?"

Scorpius, who realized that he was still holding Rose's hand, dropped it quickly. "We're not," he said, "Just… friends."

Claire shot him a confused look, but Hermione pushed her way through the trees before she could speak again.

"Grandma has dinner ready," she informed them all, and almost instantly half of them bolted down the hill and towards the Burrow.

"And Scorpius," Hermione added over her shoulder, "Guess who's staying for dinner?"


	38. The Dinner

"Scorpius, would you relax?"

Scorpius snapped his gaze from his father's back to Rose's blue eyes.

"Sorry," He said, for the fourth time, "It's just unnerving to have my parents and yours in the same city, much less the same yard."

Rose sighed. "I know," she said, "But it's going well, nobody's been hexed."

"Yet."

She glared at him.

"Optimism!" She hissed.

Mrs. Weasley wandered over from the adult table with a steaming dish in her hand.

"Potatoes?" She asked them.

She leant down to dish some out to Scorpius without waiting for an answer.

"I have to say, dear, your parents are lovely people. With the stories I heard in my day, I was a bit worried, but your father is perfectly polite. And your mother had some excellent tips for the next wedding we throw!" She beamed, and added, walking back across the lawn to her own table, "It's easy to see how they raised such a nice boy!"

"See?" Rose said pointedly, "We love them. Can we stop babysitting now?"

"Sorry," Scorpius said again, finally turning his full attention to his own table, surrounded by all of Rose's cousins and their various friends, all of whom were staring at the adult table with just as much interest as Scorpius had been.

"Snap out of it, all of you!" Rose shrieked, loudly enough that the adults all turned to look at them, while their children suddenly busied themselves pretending to eat.

"I don't know why this seems so fantastic to all of you," Rose murmured in a much quieter voice, "They got along perfectly well all of the other times they met."

"Yes, but they weren't actually conversing then," Scorpius explained patiently.

"Yeah," Albus agreed, "That was always bound to bring up some awkward subjects. Although, I have to say, Astoria and Aunt Hermione seem to be getting along swimmingly."

They all swiveled around to stare at their parents again, and Astoria and Hermione were indeed laughing together.

"Weird," Rose said, "Your mum is… well, don't take this the wrong way, but she's so proper and so very _society_. My mum isn't."

"I still think that your parents get along for your sakes," Elsie inserted, "Because they want you to all still have a good friendship."

"It's not like they aren't adults," Hugo said, "I don't know why you all assume that they'll be so unreasonable about the whole thing, especially since they already know and like Scorpius." He pushed back from the table and took Claire by the hand. "I'm bored, let's go play Quidditch."

The rest of the table immediately emptied and the rest of the Weasley children bolted up the hill after Hugo.

"Come on, Scorp!" Rose called, halfway up the hill herself.

"I'll be there in a minute," he called back, "I have to say goodbye to Mother and Father."

Rose nodded once and disappeared up the hill into the twilight.

Scorpius edged towards his parents, who were standing and talking with the other adults as their table, too, was cleared.

Hermione and Astoria were still chatting, heads close together and laughing every once in a while, but Draco was nowhere in sight.

"Oh, Scorpius, dear," Mrs. Weasley called, catching sight of him hovering nearby, "Would you take these in for me? Just drop them by the sink." She shoved an enormous pile of dirty dishes at him.

Scorpius started slowly for the house, watching the dishes teeter precariously above him.

"Oh, Scorpius, I can take those," Ginny called as he entered the kitchen, "You should be playing with the others. Run along, now."

But as Scorpius was passing the sitting room door on his way back out of the house, he heard the low rumble of two voices.

"Look," the first said, "I'm not going to lie. I feel a lot better about you then I did, but wouldn't say that I like you." It was a deep, rumbling voice that Scorpius immediately recognized as belonging to Ron Weasley.

"Please, take no offense at this, but the feeling is mutual." The second voice was just slightly higher, smoother: Draco's voice.

"I do admire some recent decisions of yours," Ron admitted, "And I can admit that you've certainly changed from your Hogwart's days, I just don't think that we're ever going to be best mates."

"Once again, I agree entirely," Draco said, "Although I do enjoy being around your family. You're obviously very close."

"Thanks," Ron said. A pause, and then, "I will admit, you have done a good job with Scorpius, he's a nice boy."

"That's all that matters in the end," Draco said quietly, "He's a better man that I, that's for certain."

"And I expect that we'd better get to at least tolerate each other, since I foresee us sharing more than just mutual feelings in the future."

Draco laughed, and said, "I do expect that you'll be seeing quite a bit more of us."

"Father?" Scorpius called shakily, and the laughter coming from the sitting room abruptly stopped. Scorpius moved to stand in the doorway and found both men staring at him."

"Scorpius," Draco stammered, "I didn't realize that you were there."

"I just came in," he lied, "I wanted to say goodbye before you and mother went back."

"I'll leave you alone, then," Ron said, starting for the door. He paused in the doorway, turned, and added, "It was good to see you, Draco."

Draco smiled slightly. "Lovely to see you again," he agreed, and then Ron was gone.

"Do you have any idea where your mother is?" Draco asked his son.

"Here I am," Astoria said, materializing in the doorway.

"Good, it's time for us to get back."

Astoria sighed. "I was just getting to know them all. Oh well. Later." She stepped forward and into Scorpius' arms. "We'll miss you this year, love. Make sure you owl us."

"I will, mother."

"Goodbye, Scorpius," Draco said, and he shook his hand. "We'll see you at Christmas time."

He walked his parents out to the front yard and watched them disapparate with a pop.

"Scorp?"

He turned his head sharply at the sound of Rose's soft voice, and saw her step out of the night towards him.

"I was wondering where you'd gotten to," she said, "It's been ages."

"Sorry," he said walking to her and pulling her into a hug.

"What was that for?" She asked breathlessly once she had pulled back.

Scorpius shrugged.

"For old time's sake."


	39. Confrontation

Somebody was crying.

Scorpius looked over at Rose and sighed.

"I'll go," he muttered, for it was the second time that night that they had found a first year sobbing of homesickness.

"I'll meet up with you later," She agreed, moving ahead of him down the corridor.

Scorpius turned, looped back down the hallway, and followed his ears to the second classroom on his left.

"Hello?" He called, knocking softly.

The crying abruptly quit.

He pushed open the door and entered, wand first.

"Is anyone here?"

The light from the end of his wand fell upon a huddled figure in the corner, and he approached it slowly.

It was a girl, a very small girl. She had red eyes, and her nose was running.

"Hi," he said quietly, kneeling in front of her.

She didn't say anything, just looked at him with wide, terrified eyes.

"I'm Scorpius," he said, digging the handkerchief out of his pocket and dangling it in front of her. She made no move to take it.

"Are you all right?" He asked, and after another long moment, she nodded her head.

"It's very late," He said, and she nodded again, her lower lip trembling.

"Are you going to take points away?" She asked in a tiny voice.

Scorpius smiled at her. "That depends on why you're out after curfew."

The girl was crying openly again. "I got lost!" She wailed, "I was in the library and I lost my way and… It's overwhelming!"

"It's alright," Scorpius reassured her quickly, dabbing her eyes himself since she showed no inclination to do so, "If that's the case, then tonight, I'll just give you a warning. It's only been a day since school started, and I used to get lost, too."

She brightened up considerably. "Really?" She asked him, "I was so worried that I would lose points and that everyone would hate me!"

Scorpius stood finally, his knees smarting from kneeling on the hard stone floor.

"Nobody will hate you," he reassured her, helping her up from the floor. "What house are you in, I'll walk you back."

"Hufflepuff," She said, blowing her nose. "My name's Lucy."

"Scorpius," he said again, opening the door for her to walk through.

"I'm a first year," she said.

"I thought so," he said, hiding his smile. She really was unbelievably tiny. Had Rose been that size when she was Lucy's age? Had it really been that long?

"What house are you in?" Lucy asked, all chatter now that she knew that her points were safe.

"Gryffindor."

"What year?"

"Sixth."

Lucy gave a great gasp and turned her wide eyes on him. Now that she wasn't sobbing her eyes out anymore, she was cute: straight blonde hair and fair eyes. In fact, Scorpius thought sardonically, they might have been mistaken for siblings.

"You're Scorpius _Malfoy_, aren't you?" She asked, clearly in awe.

"Yes, I am," He replied, wondering if it was a good sign or a bad one that a Hufflepuff had heard of him on her first day.

"Wow," She breathed, and then went silent.

"Why do you ask?" He said, after a few moments.

He thought that she might have been blushing, but it was hard to tell in the dark hall.

"They said that you were very handsome," She whispered, "They were right."

"Oh," said Scorpius, suddenly uncomfortable, "Um… thanks."

"Get your filthy hands off me," A female voice snapped, startlingly close, and Scorpius stopped dead in his path, Lucy passing him. The voice was Rose's; he would have known it anywhere.

"Lucy, stay back," Scorpius ordered, drawing his wand.

"But—"

"Lucy!" He barked, and he must have startled her, for she drew back, pale, against the stone wall.

Scorpius moved closer to the place that he had heard the voice, lit wand held in front of him.

"Noah, get away!" She shrieked again, and Scorpius walked faster.

He didn't hear Noah's reply, but he heard Rose yelp again as he rounded the corner. "Smede, Merlin help me, I will curse you until next Christmas!"

This time, Scorpius did hear Noah's low whisper. "I should like to see you try. What were they thinking, letting a pretty thing like you wander out here all alone at night? I should see you safely into bed, I think."

Scorpius moved closer still to the pair, his hands trembling with fury. He could see their silhouettes now: Noah had her pressed up against the stone wall, his big body molded to hers.

"She's not alone," Scorpius growled, and they both snapped their heads in his direction.

"Oh, hello, Malfoy," Noah said genially, moving away from Rose infinitesimally, "Nice night, isn't it?"

"Nicer for some than for others."

Noah laughed, the sound echoing off the stone. "Just having a little fun, aren't we, Rose?"

Scorpius moved closer still to Noah. "It doesn't look like Rose is having much fun," he said in a low voice. "Actually, to me it looks a lot like you're assaulting a prefect."

Noah reddened and finally stepped away from Rose. "I don't like what you're insinuating, Malfoy."

Scorpius smiled a small, bitter smile. "Really? How odd. I don't particularly like what you're _doing."_

Scorpius stepped closer still, and now Noah was pressed up against the wall. Scorpius pressed his wand up under Noah's chin. "In fact," he said conversationally, "I rather think that if you ever touch _my partner_ again, I might have to do more than take 100 house points, if you understand." Scorpius applied a bit more pressure with his wand, and Noah gagged.

"Are you threatening me?" He choked.

"Actually, yeah, I am, you –"

"Scorpius!" Rose said, and pointed to the end of the corridor, where Lucy was standing, wand drawn and shaking so badly that she wouldn't have been able to hit anything.

Noah chuckled. "How sweet," He said, voice still tight from Scorpius' wand in his windpipe, "Being defended by a ten year old."

"Is there a problem here?" Another male voice rang out, and Scorpius groaned.

"Hello, Scorpius," Cassandra called cheerfully, and her now-recovered partner, Zane, who had broken the silence, looked suspiciously from Scorpius to Noah and back again.

"Cassandra," Scorpius said, lowering his wand but still not releasing Noah, "Could you do me a favor and take Lucy back to her common room, please? She's a Hufflepuff, too."

"Sure," Cassandra said, and led the small girl away.

"Zane, would you please make sure that Mr. Smede makes it up to Gryffindor Tower?"

"Okay," Zane said slowly.

"I need to have a little chat with Rose," Scorpius explained, "Or I'd do it myself."

Zane took Noah by the arm.

"Close your eyes for a moment?" Scorpius asked him. "I don't want you to see this," he said, seeing Zane's suspicious glance.

Zane complied, albeit reluctantly, and Scorpius suddenly sunk his fist into Noah's stomach.

"Just a bit of incentive to stay away," He said cheerfully as Noah doubled over.

Zane opened his eyes. "Was that what I think it was?" He asked.

"Probably," Scorpius said, "But remember, you didn't see a thing."

Zane led Noah, still gasping for breath, away, and Scorpius turned to Rose as soon as they had rounded the corner.

"Are you alright?" He asked urgently.

"Bloody hell," she whispered, still staring at the place where Noah had been, "Scorpius, what the hell was that for?" She turned an accusatory glance in his direction.

"I'm sorry?" Scorpius stammered.

"Why did you do that?"

"You're not telling me you liked that, Noah assaulting you!"

"Of course not, but I had the situation under control!"

Scorpius snorted. "Oh, yes, you were obviously in the middle of cursing him. Rose, your wand wasn't even out!"

"It would have been! You were totally out of line, threatening him like that! And then you punched him?"

"That was more for me than for you," Scorpius admitted, "But honestly, Rose, I thought you'd be thanking me, not berating me!"

"I can take care of myself!" She said, storming off down the passage way, Scorpius close at her heels.

"Oh, can you?" Scorpius asked, not caring that he was being sharp with her.

"Yes! And I don't know who you think that you are, but you're not my father, or brother, or cousin, or boyfriend, and you have no right to protect me like that!"

"I think that I'm your friend! Am I wrong?"

Rose stopped suddenly, slumped against the wall, and burst into tears.

"No!" She protested, "You are my friend!"

"I'm sorry," Scorpius whispered, sliding down the wall next to her and gathering her into his arms, "I shouldn't have."

"I'm sorry," She said back, "I should be thanking you, of course, I just…"

"Did he touch you?" Scorpius growled, tightening his arms possessively and suddenly wondering just how far Noah had gone with her.

"No," she said, "not like that. I'm just… shaken up, I guess."

"It's alright now," Scorpius reassured them both, tucking her head into his chest, "He won't ever touch you again, I swear it."

Rose sniffed one last time, and stood. "We should finish our patrols."

"Yeah," Scorpius agreed, standing too.

"So," Rose said, "Who's Lucy?"


	40. Bachelor

**Okay. You hate me. I'm horrible. **

**But life is busy, and life caught up with me.**

**I really am sorry for the wait, and if there's still anybody out there, I want to reassure you that I am still writing this story when I can, that just hasn't been very often recently.**

**On that note, I'm a bit rusty, so this is more rough draftish than I might like, especially since it's very late, but I feel so awful for having been so flakey that I wanted to post as soon as possible.**

**Once again, anything that you recognize isn't mine, but is JK Rowling's.**

**Please enjoy this chapter, and please find forgiviness for me in the mercy and goodness of your Potter-loving hearts.**

* * *

><p>The whispers were starting to become genuinely irritating.<p>

They followed him through the hallway, and every time he turned to catch the speakers' eyes, he saw what felt like hundreds of blushing faces.

He could hear the whispers as he sat in class, drifting forward from the back of the room. The phrases, which were clearly calculated to catch his attention, merely made him roll his eyes, if only where his action couldn't be seen, and always made Rose clench her fists in a less than discreet manner.

Scorpius didn't know how, but somehow he had become the most eligible bachelor at Hogwarts.

He was forcibly reminded of this fact anytime he looked at a female. Most of them giggled and blushed and averted their eyes. A few of the bolder ones asked him out, or slipped him notes or treats. Every time he passed Lucy in the hallway, she greeted him very enthusiastically, and her tiny friends all stared up at him speechlessly. Lily only gave him very annoying, knowing looks, for, as she constantly reminded him, she had been the one that had first seen his true potential as a boyfriend. Rose treated him much the same as always, but he could feel her irritation with him growing as the weeks passed.

"I'm sorry!" He protested one night as they sat in the common room, after he had politely declined an offer by a fourth-year for a Butterbeer during the next Hogsmeade trip, "What do you expect me to do?"

She sighed dejectedly. "I don't know, maybe stop being so bloody polite. You're only encouraging them, you know, because every girl still thinks she has a chance. If you would only tell one of them off, the whole thing would be over."

"I don't want to be rude!" He protested, scratching out the last line on his essay. The whole thing was rubbish, he had been so distracted lately.

"They all hate me, you know," Rose said conversationally, staring at him, for she had finished all of her homework almost an hour before.

"No, they don't."

"Yes, they do. Half of them think we're secretly dating, and the other half just hate me because you spend all of your time with me rather than off snogging them, as any other self respecting boy does."

Scorpius sighed, gave up on his essay, and pushed a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, Rosie. It's driving me bloody insane, and I don't know how to stop it!"

He met her eyes, and for a moment, something sparked between them. Then she looked away, and said, "You could stop doing that, for one thing."

"What?"

Still staring determinately into the fire, she answered, "Stop doing that thing with your hair. Stop doing that thing with your eyes. Stop doing that thing when you walk, and talk, and smile." She sighed, and looked at her hands. "I'm sorry, Scorp," she said ruefully, "But even looking at this from a pragmatic, sisterly way, you're hot. I don't know if I can really help you."

Scorpius groaned and fell back into his chair. "It's not bloody fair," he moaned, "There are plenty of other attractive blokes around this place. Can't the girls stalk them instead?"

Rose smiled and met his eyes. "All the attractive boys either have girlfriends or are complete prats. That's another thing, you have to stop being so decent. Everybody falls in love with you because you're actually nice to them."

"Hey, Scorpius," A fifth-year squeaked, stopping in front of them. She was clearly shy, for she was shaking.

"Hello, Diana," He said, trying not to be irritated, for, to be fair, this one had never approached him before.

"Um… I'm really sorry to interrupt… But… Could you help me with my homework?"

She was bright red and staring at her feet.

"I'm dreadfully sorry, Diana," Scorpius said, feeling awful for turning her away when she had so clearly screwed up her courage, "But I was just about to go to bed. Why don't you ask David? I'm sure he'd help you."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks."

Diana wandered off towards David, another fifth year who had been staring dreamily at Diana's back throughout the exchange.

"See, that's what you could do," Rose said, interrupting Scorpius' reverie.

"Hmmm?"

"Get yourself a girlfriend!"

Scorpius looked at her face, its soft planes illuminated by the orange light of the fire.

"Are you bloody mental?" He asked.

"No!" She exclaimed, flipping her hair over her shoulder, "It's perfect! They stop bothering you, you have a girlfriend. Win-win!"

Scorpius smiled suddenly. "Are you volunteering?" He asked jokingly.

"Wait, what?" She stammered, "Of course not! That was just… a totally unconnected suggestion! We're just friends! Platonic friends!"

"I was joking, Rosie," he said quickly, alarmed at her reaction.

"Oh," she said, visibly relaxing, "Of course. Sorry."

"On that note, though," he said casually, relieved at the change in subject, "Maybe you should get yourself a boyfriend."

She grinned at him, sliding her eyes from her hands to his face. "I'm not sought after."

"Yes, you are."

"By who?"

Scorpius shot her a pointed glance. "Being assaulted does not count," She said stiffly, "And I can assure you that there is no one else."

Scorpius, who felt that he had a more acute understanding of the male mind that Rose, doubted this very much, but he shrugged anyway.

"You should be sought after, anyway," he continued, "At least as much as me. You're smart, and funny, and a prefect, and attractive… speaking from a completely platonic point of view, of course…"

Rose laughed, but it was without humor. "You just described yourself, Scorp. At least you know why they want you, now. But that's not me. I'm not attractive."

He looked at her in a way that he hadn't since Victoire's wedding, years before. He took in her soft, curved body, her vibrant curls, the firelight dancing along the slopes of her face. "Believe me," he said quietly, "You're attractive."

Rose rolled her eyes, but Scorpius knew her, and he knew that she was upset. "It doesn't seem like it," She said bitterly. "Everyone has a boyfriend, and I've never even been kissed!"

"I don't have a boyfriend," Scorpius teased.

"You know what I mean," Rose said, "And you could have a girlfriend if you wanted, that's my point. Speaking of which, we were talking about you, not me."

Scorpius groaned. "I don't want a girlfriend for convenience!"

Rose shrugged, gathered her things, and stood. "You asked," she said, turning to go, "It was only a suggestion. Good night."

"Night," He bid her softly, watching her go.

He hadn't known that she had cared so much about being alone. Rose had always seen other people falling in love first, and helped them along where she could.

If Scorpius had watched all of it with her and never noticed her hurting, what else had he missed?


	41. Development

He was very, very late to Potions.

Professor Chase may have been nice in other ways, but she was an absolute stickler about promptness, and here he was, about to walk into the only class that he was actually any _good_ at tardy.

He groaned and started to jog.

Curse those rotten females. If he hadn't been so distracted by all their tittering at breakfast, he wouldn't have left the potions paper he had written up in his dormitory and he wouldn't have had to double back.

The hallways were almost empty now, filled only by other people scurrying off to class. He could only hope that Rose would let him join in on her potion when he got there.

He was worried about her, ever since their conversation the week before in the common room. Now that he knew she cared so much about being alone, he was starting to see signs of it: the way that she never looked directly at Albus and Elsie, as if their happiness hurt her eyes, the way that she politely excused herself whenever Lily started talking about Avery, the way her nose wrinkled a bit when she received a letter from James, full of nothing but Kate.

Now it was him that she couldn't look straight at, and he swore that her hand twitched towards her wand every time another girl approached him.

She had been wrong, though, to say that men didn't notice her. He was seeing more and more of that, now that he was looking: the way that boys smiled at her in the hall, the way that their gaze lingered on her when she wasn't looking. He suspected that he would have heard more about it, too, in his dormitory, if Albus hadn't threatened months ago to curse the next boy who talked about Rose or Lily in that way.

In some ways, Scorpius was glad that Rose hadn't noticed, because she might have reciprocated and ended up with one of the blokes, and they were all smarmy prats whom he didn't want within three feet of her. In other ways, though, he noticed her loneliness and ached to make it stop, and though the thought of Rose with one of the boys who constantly ogled her between classes made his head ache, he wanted her to be happy. He had to resign himself to the fact that someday, she was going to want to be with some other man more than she wanted to be with him.

Scorpius ran around the final corner, still lost in his thoughts, and smashed into somebody. Somebody who was much smaller than he was and was now laying on the floor, dazed, with books and papers scattered around them.

"Sorry, sorry!" He said quickly, bending down to offer a hand to the person: a Gryffindor girl in his year.

"It's fine," she said taking his hand and standing, and then adding wryly, "You certainly know how to make an entrance!"

He laughed with her in spite of himself and bent down to help her gather her things. "Leaving potions before it even starts?" He asked.

She laughed again. "I stopped taking potions as soon as I could, I'm rubbish at it! I was just asking Professor Chase a question. I have a free period now."

"Ah," Scorpius said, "It all becomes clear."

She took her books out of his hands, and Scorpius noticed that she hadn't batted her eyelashes at him once.

"Well," She sighed, flipping her brown fringe out of her eyes, "I'd best be off. Nice running into you, Scorpius!"

"Sorry again, Lydia, I'm dreadfully clumsy."

"Nonsense!" She laughed again, crinkling her nose and closing her hazel eyes as she did so. "I don't think the word's in your vocabulary. I'll see you around?"

He nodded, realizing that he wouldn't mind seeing her around at all.

The bell rang just as he slipped through the door, and Professor Chase only shot him a warning look as she waved her wand at the board.

"Good timing, Malfoy," Rose quipped as he collapsed into the seat next to her, "I thought you were going to make me suffer alone."

"Nah," he said, copying the recipe on the board onto a scrap of parchment, "Just got… hung up. Guess who I ran into in the hallway?"

"Let me guess," Rose said, copying the recipe as well, "Another girl who spends History of Magic writing 'Mrs. Scorpius Malfoy' in the margins of her notes?"

"Har har," Scorpius said, "I doubt she does."

"I knew it was another twittering follower!"

"Lydia Parsons hardly twitters."

Rose stopped writing suddenly. "Lydia?"

"Yeah, you know her?"

"Of course I know her, we share a dormitory!"

"Oh," said Scorpius sheepishly, feeling quite stupid, "I forgot. Sorry."

She waved her hand at him in forgiveness and flicked her wand to summon their ingredients.

"What about her?" Rose pressed, studiously adding 10 drops of Belladonna to their brew.

Scorpius sat thinking for a moment, realizing that he didn't know exactly what it was that had struck him about Lydia. "I don't really know," he said slowly, "It's just weird, you know? I've seen her every day in the common room and such, but I had forgotten she even existed until I bowled her over. Isn't she dating Davis Loman?"

"That was last year," Rose corrected. "Then she broke up with him and started dating William Coach, that Slytherin seventh year? But then he dumped her, so she was dating Zane, you know, the Hufflepuff Prefect? But apparently he was cheating on her with a Ravenclaw, so she broke it off."

Scorpius stirred the potion exactly 7 and ¾ times counterclockwise.

"Huh," Rose said, "I had never noticed before. There's a dating circle, it seems, and you need some boy's seal of approval to break in…"

She sat pensively for a moment, and then reached for the spoon.

"Stop!" Scorpius cried, seizing her wrist. It was so small that his fingers overlapped each other, and he could feel her pulse beating softly under the pad of his thumb.

Rose looked up at him, dazed.

"Sorry," he stuttered, "I already… stirred."

She blinked, and then sighed. "Sorry," she mumbled, "I've been distracted. I didn't mean to muck it up."

"S'alright," He muttered, and they both sat in silence for a moment longer.

"Well," She said awkwardly after a moment, "Another perfect potion."

"Well done, Miss Weasley," he murmured.

She blushed and dropped her gaze, and he realized that he was still holding her wrist. He dropped it immediately.

"Sorry," he said, blushing himself.

"Let's see, Malfoy, Weasley," Professor Chase said brusquely, oblivious to the awkwardness coursing between them.

She examined the potion, smelling it carefully, and pronounced it perfect.

"Well," Rose said, once she had moved away, "You may be the most popular boy in school, but at least I can still make you blush!"

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><p>Now that Scorpius had noticed Lydia, he saw her everywhere: In the common room at night, in between classes, at meals.<p>

He seemed to catch her eyes more and more, and share a secret smile with her, especially when she caught various females staring at him, which she thought was hilarious.

"I'm risking my life, you know," She said, slipping in beside him at the lunch table. "Any girl who spends time with you is public enemy number one."

"How noble of you!"

She laughed her tinkling little laugh. "We could have some fun," She whispered in his ear, her eyes sparkling with mischief."

He looked down at her face, which was only inches from him. "What do you have in mind?" He asked softly.

"It's harmless," She promised, scooting closer to him on the bench, "We just flirt."

"Like this?" He asked, smiling and leaning in a bit more. He could have moved an inch and kissed her.

"Exactly," She whispered, "And now we leave."

She took his hand and stood, and he followed her out of the Great Hall.

Lydia laughed again as soon as they had left the hall, and Scorpius couldn't help but laugh with her. "Did you see their faces?" She said, squeezing his hand.

Scorpius saw Rose moving down the stairs towards the hall, looking at their clasped hands confusedly.

"Hey, Rosie!" Scorpius called, "Where were you?"

"Speaking with Professor Chase about something," She said slowly, "Hello, Lydia."

"Hi," Lydia said, grinning at her. "Listen, Scorp, I had better go."

"I'll walk you up," he volunteered.

"That's not necessary," She assured him, "I'm sure you want to eat with Rose."

"I've already eaten," Scorpius said apologetically to Rose, "And I should go up to gather my things for Charms anyway. Alright, Rose?"

"Yeah, that's fine," She said softly, and moved slowly into the hall.

"Always the gentleman," Lydia teased softly as the approached Gryffindor Tower.

"Somebody has to be," He replied. He still hadn't dropped her hand, but he had no desire to.

She spun to face him, stopping dead in the middle of the hallway.

"You alright?" He asked her.

"Yeah. I'm just trying to figure you out." She cocked her head and stepped closer.

"Why?"

"You're interesting."

"I'm not," He assured her, also stepping in. Their faces were inches apart again.

"You're wrong," she whispered, tilting her face ever closer.

Exactly as in the Great Hall only minutes before, he was close enough to kiss her.

So he did.


	42. Argument

**For some reason, I don't think that an alert went out when I posted the last chapter (Chapter 41).**

**I point this out for two reasons: First, I'm very sorry if you didn't recieve one, because I didn't (and I usually do). Secondly, if you haven't read Chapter 41 yet for that reason, you probably want to for continuity purposes. If you read this chapter first and are confused, I'm sorry.**

**I really hope you all get an alert for this chapter, because if not, I have a major problem...**

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><p>"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"<p>

Rose stormed across the common room toward the couch where Lydia and Scorpius were laying intertwined and stood over them, glaring at Scorpius.

Lydia sat up, looking alarmed. "Maybe I should leave you to it," She said, and hurried away before anyone could stop her going.

Rose didn't even bat an eyelash. She merely stood, hands on hips, glaring down at him.

"Excuse me?" Scorpius said, with genuine confusion in his voice.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Rose said again, keeping her voice low and deadly.

"Um…"

"Was that what it looked like?" Rose asked, thrusting a finger in the direction that Lydia had just gone.

Scorpius sat up straight, feeling annoyed. What right had she to be angry with him? "I presume that you are talking about Lydia and I."

"Yes," Rose answered imperiously, "I am."

"Then yes, that was what it looked like."

Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Scorpius half expected her to yell at him, but when she spoke, it was in a whisper. "When?"

"What?"

"When, when did it happen?"

"This afternoon," Scorpius said.

Rose swayed on her feet, just slightly, and Scorpius stood, ready to catch her.

"You are despicable, Malfoy," she spat at him, and the choice of his last name struck him.

"Why, because I've found someone that I like?" He said, rage bubbling up inside of him, "Just because you're bitter about being alone doesn't mean that I have to suffer in misery with you!"

He didn't think about the words before he spat them out, but as soon as he had, he knew that he'd gone too far. He could hear the tears in her voice when she spoke, though she was clearly trying to stay strong.

"I don't care that you're dating her, or snogging her, or whatever you want to call it," Rose whispered.

"Rose…"

"But that I had to find out from the rumor mill, Scorp?" She choked, her voice catching on his name, "I don't care who you date, but you could at least have the decency to let me know! Do you know how humiliating it was to have Cassandra the Hufflepuff tell me that she'd seen you snogging Lydia Parsons? Because I told Cassandra that she was wrong, that's how sure I was that you would at least let me know. I made a fool of myself!"

"Rose, I'm sorry!"

"Don't be," She whispered bitterly, "I'll just go suffer in misery."

She moved off, shoulders slumped, looking entirely defeated.

Scorpius sank back down to the couch, feeling slightly nauseous. He had never rowed with her before. They disagreed, fairly often, even, but he had never actually fought with her, he had never purposely hurt her before. He hated the feeling.

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><p>He didn't even know where to begin to look for her. He checked up the astronomy tower, in the library, and even begged a fourth-year to check her dormitory, but she was nowhere to be found.<p>

Dejectedly, he headed down to the Great Hall to start his rounds alone.

"Oh, Godric, what's wrong with me?" He knew that the tearful voice belonged to Rose, even hearing it from a corridor away. He froze.

"Nothing's wrong with you, Rosie. He was a prat." A different female voice, this one belonging to Lily.

"No, I was! I've just driven him away forever, he won't even be my friend now!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Lily said pragmatically, "Of course he'll be your friend! Sometimes I think he's half in love with you!"

Scorpius edged towards the sound of their voices.

"Don't say that, Lily," Rose said, "That's stupid. He's clearly dating someone else!"

There was silence, and then Lily spoke: "He still should have told you."

"He was probably going to! It had only been an afternoon!"

"Will you stop defending him? Rose, he was stupid about it! You deserved to hear from him!"

Scorpius was rather inclined to believe Lily. He felt utterly despicable at the moment, a feeling made only the worse by that fact that he was eavesdropping on a clearly private conversation. Somehow, though, he couldn't pull himself away.

Silence again, broken this time by Rose. "And I'll have to go up to that bloody dormitory tonight and look Lydia in the eye and pretend like she didn't just see me have a mental breakdown over her boyfriend."

"Bitch."

"No, Lily, she's not! It would be so much easier if she was, because then I could hate her, but she's simply too nice!"

"Well, you can still hate him," Lily said sullenly.

Scorpius edged around the corner and suddenly saw them. Rose was balled up against the stone wall, eyes red and nose running. Lily was sitting next to her, rocking her sobbing cousin in her arms.

"I don't want to!" Rose wailed, "He's my best friend!"

Lily sighed and rocked her again, shushing her. "I know, Rosie, it'll all work out."

The sight of Rose lying so pathetically against the stone wall made Scorpius' eyes sting. He had half a mind to walk over, push Lily out of the way, and take Rose into his own arms, but the rational part of his brain reminded him that he was the last person that Rose wanted to see at the moment.

"I have to go," Rose said, sniffling one last time, "I have rounds."

"Not tonight," Lily said, helping Rose to her feet.

"Lily, I can't not go."

"Yes, you can. You're not going tonight, not like this. Just skip this once, and you won't have to face him until tomorrow."

"I need to see him though!" Rose protested, pushing Lily's arm away halfheartedly, "I need to apologize!"

"He needs to apologize," Lily corrected, pulling her gently in the direction of Gryffindor Tower, "You need to go to sleep. Come on, up we go."

Rose only followed her mutely, neither of them noticing Scorpius where he stood in the shadows at the opposite end of the hallway.

He sighed, blinked back the totally irrational tears that were threatening him, and moved down to the Great Hall.

"You're late, Malfoy," The new Head Boy, Henry Pucy, snapped when he arrived, "And where's Weasley?"

"She's not feeling well," Scorpius muttered, "I sent her to bed."

And that, he reflected morosely, wasn't even a lie.


	43. Golden Morning

**So it turns out that I'm just rather stupid and had my alert settings wrong, so I wasn't getting emails while you all were. Sorry for the confusion.**

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><p>She was writing a letter at their usual table in the common room when he came down before breakfast.<p>

He watched her silently for a moment, head bowed over her writing, brow furrowed in concentration, a golden halo around her head from the dawn light falling across her auburn curls.

"Rose?" He asked quietly, taking a step in her direction.

Her head snapped towards him, and he was relieved to see that she was not scowling at him, but rather that her face had relaxed into its usual smile.

"Good morning," She said, laying her quill down, "Listen—"

"We need to talk," Scorpius interrupted, sitting next to her.

"I know, I was about to say that. I'm really sorry, Scorp."

"For what? I was going to tell _you_ I was sorry!"

Rose looked down at her hands, twisting them in her lap. "I shouldn't have shouted at you, I had no reason."

"Yes, you did! Rose, I should have just told you! But I was…"

His voice died out, and he didn't know if he could finish the sentence.

"Are you alright?" She asked him, and he looked up to meet her earnest blue gaze.

"Fine," He stuttered, and took a breath, steeling himself for the next sentence. "I was afraid that you'd be… hurt. That I'd got a girlfriend, I mean, after what we talked about."

She blinked once. "You really are incredibly thick," she said matter-of-factly. "What kind of harpy do you think I am, that I would want you to compromise your own happiness for my stupidity?"

"You're not a harpy!" He cried.

She rolled her eyes. "Like I said last night, you can date whomever you like. I really don't care." She dropped her gaze to her lap and gave a shaky laugh. "Just don't forget about me, alright?"

"Rose," he said earnestly, taking her hand and squeezing it, "I could never… I mean, I love you! You're my best friend!"

"Yeah," she whispered, "I love you, too."

Scorpius suddenly felt as if the room was much too hot, and he dropped her hand to loosen his tie and unbutton the top of his uniform shirt, desperate for air.

Rose gulped. "I meant in a totally platonic way," She stammered, her voice faint.

"Yeah, I know."

She gave him a small smile and turned back to her letter.

"Rose," Scorpius blurted before he could lose his courage, "Do you like Lydia?"

Rose paused mid-word and her quill blotted, but she didn't even notice. "Yes."

"Are you sure? Because if you don't…"

"Don't be daft, Scorp," she snapped, but her eyes were twinkling, "You're not going to break up with your girlfriend for me. Besides, I do like her, she's always been sweet to me."

"Good, because—"

"Good morning!" Albus fairly shouted, throwing himself between them on the couch, "What're you two doing up so early?"

"Writing," Rose said, clearly annoyed at his interruption.

"Oh, is _that_ what you're doing with the quill and parchment? I would have never guessed!"

"Shut it, Potter!"

"Your quill's blotting, did you know?"

"Damn!" Rose muttered, picking her quill up hastily, "I've just lost a whole sentence!" She conjured a handkerchief out of midair and blotted desperately at her letter.

"Who're you writing, anyway?" Scorpius asked interestly.

"Mum," Rose muttered, preoccupied by her mess, "Oh, that reminds me. Are you still coming for Christmas?"

"Of course he's coming, why wouldn't he be?" Albus answered for him, "Besides, it's October, what does it matter?"

"It matters," Rose answered crisply, "Because there's so many people coming that it's practically a fire hazard and they're talking about adding a room. And he may actually want to spend time with his parents. Or Lydia."

"I don't have to come if there isn't room," Scorpius said hastily, just as Albus turned to him and asked, "Snogging her, are you? Good boy, she's fit!"

Rose elbowed her cousin sharply in the side. "Albus," she hissed, "Honestly. Yes, Scorpius is _dating_ her. And don't be silly, Scorp, of course you should come, if you still want to, you know we all adore you."

Scorpius ducked his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, I want to come."

"Good!" Rose beamed, "It wouldn't be Christmas without you!"

Scorpius felt a sudden rush of happiness. It had been so long since he had been with Rose and Albus, just the three of them laughing and joking together before a roaring fire in the grate. The thought of losing either one of them made his chest constrict. He took another breath and rolled up his sleeves. He didn't want this feeling to end.

"Alright there, mate?" Albus asked, taking in Scorpius' disheveled appearance, loosened tie, bunched shirt, and all.

"Yeah, fine. Is it a bit hot in here?"

"Not really," Rose asked concernedly, "Are you coming down with something?"

"Nah," Scorpius said, "I'm just tired, probably."

"Yeah, probably," Albus interjected, "You were tossing and turning so much last night that a bloke couldn't get a wink of sleep."

"Oi! Watch it! It's usually you keeping everybody up, with your bloody sleep talking. Speaking of which, I know that you weren't awake, because you shouted all night long!"

"Shove it," Al said, pushing him playfully.

"Boys," Rose warned, "Play nice! Besides, its breakfast time. Let's go up to the owlry first, I need to post this."

They all stood, and Rose burst into laughter. "I'd better help you with that, Scorp," she said, waving a hand at his wrinkled shirt.

He blushed and rolled down his sleeves, rebuttoning them.

Rose moved in, reaching for the button by his neck, and he stood very still as her fingers worked. "At least your slacks are still alright," She murmured as she retied his tie.

"Oh, look at you two," Albus cooed, "So domestic! I could just take a picture!"

"Sod off, Potter," Scorpius and Rose barked in unison.

"And now you're finishing sentences together! It's so cute I could just _die!_"

"Good idea!" Scorpius said conversationally, brandishing his wand, "I can make you die, if you want."

Albus let out a high pitched shriek and bolted through the portrait hole, Scorpius right on his heels.

Yes, Scorpius reflected as he chased Al all the way up to the owlry, he had missed them.


	44. Mutual Understanding

It was the day before Hogwarts let out for Christmas Holidays when Lydia pulled him aside.

"Scorpius," She said, "I think we ought to have a conversation."

Instinctually, Scorpius knew what was happening, but he couldn't quite bring himself to care as much as he thought he probably ought to.

"Sure," he agreed, and they walked to a secluded corridor where nobody came, except for the occasional passing student on their way to a class.

"We've been dating for what, two months now?"

"Yeah," Scorpius answered, "Give or take. Why?"

Lydia gave a small smile. "I don't feel that either of us have been particularly invested in this relationship."

Scorpius sighed but did not answer, for this was entirely true.

"And honestly, I don't have a problem with that. But I think that's a problem in and of itself."

"Yeah."

"You spend all your time with Rose and Albus, and I totally understand. They're your best friends, and I love that you're that close to them. I spend all my time with my friends."

"I don't care about that."

"I know!" Lydia laughed a bit. "But if we're never spending time with each other anyway, why do we keep saying that we're dating?"

Scorpius cracked a small smile. "Good question."

"I just think that we got together in the first place because it was convenient. You wanted to escape all of the girls, and I had just broken up with Zane and was feeling alone and I wanted someone to love me. But this wasn't ever a real relationship."

"I agree."

Lydia let out a deep breath. "You do? Oh, good, I was so worried that you'd be cross with me!"

Now Scorpius laughed. "Lydia, I like you, I really do, but I've never felt that we were going anywhere."

"I think that there're people we'd both rather be with," Lydia admitted. "You've got Rose—and don't look at me like that, because someday you'll wake up, even if you don't believe me now. You've told her you loved her, I know you have."

"And I do!" Scorpius protested, "But she's like… my cousin, or something!"

Lydia shot him a very speculative look. "You may have meant it platonically, and she may have taken it that way, but subconsciously, you know that it's not that way."

"Lydia—"

"I'm not going to argue with you about this, it doesn't really matter. You'd have her as a friend either way, and she's a better friend for you than I am."

"That's not true."

"Yes it is! You know everything about each other! You've never had to tell her that you want to be a healer, and you've never asked to know that she wants to work at the Ministry, just like her mother. Those are just the sort of things that you know about each other. You know her family, you know her habits: Scorpius, you know her."

"That doesn't mean that we're bloody in love!"

"No, it doesn't. But it does mean that you have a terribly strong relationship with her either way."

"Who do you want to be with?" Scorpius asked abruptly, trying to move the subject away from his relationship with Rose, for he felt guilty now for neglecting Lydia.

She blushed. "Zane," She stammered, and then, catching the look on his face, "I know that the rumor is that he cheated on me, and I thought he did, but what I saw wasn't what I thought I saw! We've been talking recently, and… well, we still have feelings for each other. I feel terribly guilty, but you can't deny that this has been a fairly false relationship on both sides."

"I don't deny that. I think this is best. And don't take this the wrong way, but I was thinking about doing this anyway."

"I don't blame you at all, Scorpius, I'm just glad that this is mutual and mature."

They stood in awkward silence for a moment, and then she kissed him on the cheek.

"I have had fun, Scorp," she said, "But I'm glad that we've reached this decision. I'll see you after the holidays!" And then she moved merrily away.

Scorpius thought that he was probably supposed to be crushed, but he didn't feel anything, except perhaps relief, and then guilt for feeling so relieved that his girlfriend had just dumped him.

Grinning a bit in spite of himself, he moved towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"Hey, Rosie," He said, sliding in beside her at the table.

"Hi," she said distractedly, for she was reading over her Transfiguration paper again, "How are you?"

"Single," He answered casually, enjoying the look of confusion on her face. "Lydia chucked me," He addd.

Rose rolled up her scroll and gazed up at him. "I'm so sorry, Scorpius."

"Really?" Scorpius asked her, "I'm not sorry."

Rose looked even more confused than before. "You just got dumped by your girlfriend, and you're not sorry?"

"Nah, neither is she. It's for the best."

Rose looked speculative, but she only took a sip of pumpkin juice and remained silent.

"It really is!" He cried. "We were never even together, and we didn't care about it… it wasn't really a relationship."

"She's stupid for dumping you."

"No, she's not, I was about to do it anyway. Plus, now you have me all to yourself over Christmas."

"Oh, goodie," Rose said sarcastically, "And I was so ready to pine for you."

Scorpius chuckled to himself. "I just wanted to tell you before Cassandra the Hufflepuff did, I have no desire to be hexed by you. Also, guess what?"

"Hmm?"

"Lydia and Zane are back together."

Rose stared at him, wide-eyed. "Already? What was that, three minutes? That has to be a new rebound record."

"Not really, that's why she ended it. She said we'd both rather be with other people."

"Oh, really?" Rose asked, "Who'd you rather be with?"

"Well, she thinks we're in love, which is completely off the point, but she wanted to get back together with Zane." He handed her a napkin so that she could wipe up the pumpkin juice that she had spit out.

"Bitch," Rose said, once she had stopped choking.

"Now, now, Rosie," Scorpius chastised playfully, "Play nice with the other witches. The girl knows what she wants, you can't fault her for that. Anyway, we're done now, thought you might like to know."

And he grabbed a biscuit and fairly skipped out of the room.


	45. Amortentia

**I'm on a roll lately!**

**Anyway, I may be unable to update this week, but here's something to tide you over.**

**I've also been thinking about writing some companion pieces, so to speak, about characters in this little mini-universe (like a backstory on Draco and Astoria). I would love to know if you think this is a good follow up project, for when this story is done, and if you think it is, who you would like to see stories on.**

**Thank you so much for reading and especially for reviewing-every one I get just makes me want to update faster.**

**And it's been a while, so... Anything you recognize belongs to JK Rowling, not to me.**

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><p>Scorpius looked at the cauldron full of shimmering pearly liquid with anticipation.<p>

"Are you scared?" He asked Rose.

"Of course not," She said, "Why would I be scared?" But her voice shook and her face was pale.

"Well," he said reasonably, "It does tell us a great deal about ourselves."

The bell rang then, interrupting Rose as she started to answer, and Professor Chase entered brusquely.

"I suspect that you've heard rumors of what we are to study today," she said without preamble, "But can anyone tell me what is in the cauldrons in front of you?"

Rose's hand shot into the air as usual, but this time, it was beat by Scorpius'.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

"It's Amortentia, Professor," He said, staring into the cauldron.

"Precisely. 5 Points to Gryffindor. And what does it do? Miss Weasley?"

"It's a love potion," Rose said a bit breathlessly, leaning in to look into the cauldron also, "It inspires a sort of obsession in the drinker. But its vapor smells different to everyone, and they smell what they find most attractive."

"Good, Weasley," Professor Chase said, "Another 5 points. Now, we'll be brewing Amortentia next lesson, but it's a bit of a strange sensation the first time, so I wanted you all to smell before you brew so you aren't distracted." She started towards the table on the left, and called, "Please be very careful, even its smell can be intoxicating. Small sniffs only."

Rose stared into the cauldron. "Care for a whiff?" Scorpius asked her.

She didn't move. "What do you think I'll smell?" She asked him.

"You could try it and find out."

"Mum smelled dad in hers. So if I smell somebody in there that I don't know, and then one day I smell it, does it mean that I'm in love with them? And what if I smell somebody that I do know, someone that I maybe don't like?"

"You're over thinking it, Rosie," Scorpius sighed, "It's just an indicator. And technically, it's not even an indicator of true love, just of attractiveness. You could smell someone in there that you hate, but that you find attractive in the physical sense, I suppose."

"I don't think that's how it works," She muttered.

"Problems?" Professor Chase asked, sweeping by.

"No, Professor," they both chorused, chastised at having been caught talking.

"Well?" Scorpius asked, once Professor Chase had moved on.

Rose took a deep breath and leaned in. "No," she suddenly said, leaning back again, "You go first."

Scorpius looked at her speculatively. The spiraling steam from the cauldron was making her cheeks pink, and the curls that she had bound to her head in a coil were rapidly coming loose. "What are you so afraid of?" He asked her.

She laughed nervously. "I'm just afraid of finding out something that I don't want to know. Hurry, go before Professor Chase comes back, she's looking at us suspiciously."

Scorpius rolled his eyes and leaned in, inhaling deeply.

The potion was the single most delicious thing that he had ever smelled in his life. He leaned further in and took another sniff, closing his eyes. It was sweet and hearty, and he never wanted to lean back again.

"Scorp?" Rose's hand was on his shoulder, tugging him back, and he went reluctantly. "You alright?" She asked worriedly.

"Yeah, of course. Sorry, got… distracted."

"Professor Chase warned of that."

"Yeah," He said again, "But it's… well, you'll see. It's hard to avoid."

"What did you smell?" She asked.

"It's your turn," he said hastily.

She shot him a look and leaned in herself, tentatively sniffing. She opened her eyes wide with surprise, and then closed them, leaning further over the cauldron and inhaling deeply.

"Rose," Scorpius murmured, taking her wrist and tugging gently.

"Sorry," She said faintly, her eyes still closed.

She opened them suddenly, and they locked with his. She shuddered. "Oh, Merlin," She whispered, swaying on her stool. She was so pale that the normally light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose stood out in relief.

"You alright, Rosie?" He asked, taking a more steady grip on her arm.

"Fine," She mumbled, still looking unsteady.

"Alright," said Professor Chase from the front of the room, clapping her hands together, "Like I said, we'll be brewing next week. I would like you also to bring with you a foot on Amortentia, its uses, and your own personal experience with it."

The bell rang, and the dungeon room emptied suddenly.

Scorpius helped Rose to her feet.

"I'm fine," She said shaking him off and gathering her bag to her chest, "Let's just go up to lunch."

"If you're sure," He muttered, moving after her out of the potions room.

They walked in silence most of the way up into the Great Hall.

"Scorpius," she said abruptly, still walking briskly, "What's your favorite fruit?"

"Ah… Excuse me?"

"You're favorite fruit," She repeated impatiently, "It's a lemon, isn't it?"

"Um… yes. But if you already knew, why did you ask?"

She flushed but did not answer, only leading him to a place at the Gryffindor Table where Albus sat next to Elsie.

"I cannot believe that you skipped potions today, Albus Severus Potter," Rose snapped, sitting next to him.

"I didn't have my paper finished," He mumbled embarrassedly, avoiding Elsie's disapproving gaze, "Why, what'd we do?"

"Amortentia," Scorpius answered, since Rose didn't seem inclined to do so, "Or rather, we just smelled it. We'll brew next week."

"Huh," Albus said, "What'd you smell?"

"Do you remember," Rose said, instead of answering, "When you went to get a Christmas Tree this year, with Scorpius and James?"

"Yeah," Albus said, "Why, did you smell me in your cauldron?"

"Don't be daft," Rose snapped, "I was just thinking… How Grandma yelled at you because you came back smelling like the whole pine forest and Aunt Gabrielle's husband is allergic to pine."

"So… you smelled Great-Aunt Gabrielle's husband?"

Rose punched him on the arm. "Honestly, you're so stupid. Of course I didn't smell some forty-year old man. And it's important to remember that Amortentia does not necessarily indicate true love. It only smells like what one finds attractive."

"See, I didn't really need to go to potions today, you just taught me the whole lesson," Albus said, taking a swig of his juice. "She's gone barmy," he muttered to Scorpius when Rose's back was turned.

Elsie elbowed him in the stomach. "What a thing to say," She said disapprovingly, "Besides, I'd best be off, I've got herbology next, I have to trek down to the greenhouses. Goodbye!" She waved at them all and moved along out of the Great Hall.

"Okay, honestly," Albus said after she had left, "What did you both smell?"

"It's private," Rose sniffed, "And I wouldn't tell you anyway, you're being a bloody prat."

Albus muttered something terribly impolite under his breath and followed Elsie out.

"We should go, too," Rose said, before Scorpius could speak, "Transfiguration."

And before he could shout after her to wait, she had vanished into the crowd.


	46. Break Down

It took him a full three days to catch up with her.

It was a strange sensation, since they had virtually all of their classes together, shared a living space, took their meals together, and had the same friends, but she was most definitely avoiding him.

In their classes together, she quickly changed the subject if it turned to anything besides the spell work they were supposed to be working on. In the common room in the evenings and at meal times, she talked mostly with Lily, Albus, or Elsie. When she absolutely had to speak to Scorpius, she studiously avoided his eyes, blushing furiously the whole time.

He was stumped.

The two of them had never been awkward. They had their little spats, infrequently, and there was the time in their first year when she had virtually stopped talking to him, but even then, she hadn't been awkward.

But it had been three days, and he was thoroughly fed up with the whole thing.

She hid in the library when she was avoiding someone, so he marched there resolutely and plunked himself down across from her, waiting for her to look up. She didn't, but she did turn a brilliant shade of red, so he knew that she knew that he was there.

He sat idly while she continued to ignore him, twirling his wand between his fingers. For fun, he vanished her charms book, and then unvanished it, over and over. He made her unused quill float up, writing nonsense words in the air. He made it snow, just a light dusting of powder that settled over her shoulders and got lost in her curls.

She looked up finally, irritated, one snowflake clinging to her eyelashes.

"Hello," He said.

"I'm studying."

"I'm aware."

She sighed. "So why are you here?"

"Why are _you_ here?"

"Like I said," she sighed, returning her quill to its inkpot, "I'm studying."

"Funny thing, that," Scorpius said quietly, using his wand to stand one of her books on end and letting it thump back over to its other side. _Thump. Thump. _"Usually, you study in the common room."

_Thump. _"The library is quieter. Or at least, it _was._"

_Thump. _"Still," Scorpius said setting his wand down at last, "You only come here if you're avoiding someone."

"Well, I'm not."

"Are you sure?"

Rose flushed again, and her voice sounded higher than usual when she responded. "Who would I be avoiding?"

Scorpius met her nervous blue gaze. "Me?"

Rose laughed, but it sounded forced. "Why would I be ignoring you?"

"See, I've been asking myself the same question. It all seems to go back to a certain incident three days ago… Do you remember anything of the sort?"

Rose sighed, dropping all pretenses. "Yeah, it rings a bell," She said in a defeated voice.

"Listen, Rose, are you alright?" He asked her concernedly, for she had gone pale again.

"Fine," She replied automatically, "I just can't do this right now. We have exams coming up, and I'm totally bogged down…" She was close to tears.

"What can't you do?" He asked quickly, conjuring her up a handkerchief.

"You!" She sniffed, wiping her eyes, "Us, I can't… I can't handle this."

"Rose," Scorpius said, torn between confusion and concern, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Scorp," She whispered, "You have to know. After all this time, you have to know…"

He must have looked utterly bewildered still, for she gave a watery smile and sniffed again.

"What I smelled in that damn potion?" She said, "You have to have guessed."

"I… Well, I…" He stammered, "Well, I suppose I thought that was the reason that you've been distant, but I didn't know for sure."

"Lemons," she said, her eyes filling again, "Lemons, and cinnamon and pine. It sounds awful, but it was lovely. It was _you._" She was crying again, harder that he had seen her cry in years.

"Rose," He said, moving to her side of the table and pulling her into his arms, "It's going to be alright, I promise."

"No, it's not!" She wailed, leaning against his chest, "This is so stressful! I've already got exams, and prefect duties, and now I'm supposed to deal with this, too, finding out that you're my bloody soul mate? I just… I can't do it all. I can't lose you, I can't do it."

"Who says that you're going to lose me?"

"Of course I will!" She sobbed, her frame racking convulsively. It was worrying, the way her body was shaking. He was tempted to take her up to the hospital wing. "What if… what if something happens between us? Something awful? I can't not have you in my life, Scorp, I need you. Godric, I need—"

She broke off, crying so hard that he couldn't hear the rest of her sentence. He tightened his embrace instinctively and rocked her slowly back and forth. "I know, Rosie," He mumbled, completely at a loss, "Would it make you feel better to know what I smelled?"

She didn't answer, but her told her anyway: "Roses and rain, and sugar cookies. Rose, I smelled you, too." She seemed to be crying less now, but he couldn't tell if it was due to his words or simply because she was too exhausted to carry on the way that she had been.

"We don't have to do this, Rose," He said softly, and she stopped crying, though she was still shaking, seemingly uncontrollably, "This doesn't necessarily mean… well, it could simply mean…"

He petered off, unsure how to finish his sentence.

"It could simply be an indicator of what we find physically attractive," Rose said, her voice hoarse, still sounding unconvinced.

"Of course," He replied, just as uncertainly, "I have always thought that you were… attractive."

"You have?"

"Of course, you're beautiful."

"So are you."

There was a silence. She was still shivering.

"Not that I don't like your personality, or anything," he said lamely, "But it doesn't mean that I'm in love with you, or anything." He sounded unconvincing, even to himself.

"Yeah," She replied dully, "We're just friends."

"Just friends." He repeated.

They both sighed.

"This is a really bad time, too," Rose said hastily, still leaning against him.

"Yeah," He agreed, "Rotten timing."

She sat up and repacked her bag, her hands shaking so much that she could barely recap her ink.

Scorpius sighed again. Of course he didn't love her, the very concept was laughable. They were friends, after all, and friends could feel this, this worry, this care, this warmth.

"Come on," He said to her, studiously ignoring the voice in the back of his head that reminded him that friends didn't usually posses the urge to kiss their other friends until they stopped crying, kiss their tears away, and then kiss them some more for good measure, "I'm taking you up to the hospital wing."

And he did so, despite her protests, informed Madam Pope that Rose had suffered a nervous breakdown and then left the room, feeling exactly no better than he had that morning.


	47. Reacquaintanceship

**So. Really, I have no excuse. But I can say that I sort of lost the vibe, for a while there. I can also say that I've had a CRAZY autumn, especially with Thanksgiving and now Christmas... but I also have a two week holiday starting now, and I'm very hopeful that I will completely finish this before we head back to school after the New Year.**

**I'm really very sorry for neglecting this for so long, but life happens. Thank you very much to those of you who are still reading and being supportive of this story, for it helps to motivate me. Now that I have time, expect fairly constant updates, excluding perhaps the days right around Christmas.**

**Like I had said before, after I finish this, I'm planning on doing some companion pieces, like Draco and Astoria, etc., so ideas for that are welcome. Also, if you like _The Hunger Games_, I'm writing a piece called _Parental Affection_ over there, so check that out.**

**Once again, I own nothing that can be found in the original _Harry Potter_ books. Thank you for your time, please enjoy!**

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><p>He knocked three times, and stepped back.<p>

He tried to tell himself not to be nervous. Why should he be nervous? He'd done this countless times before. This was practically his second home!

But still, he'd never had to _knock_ before. Someone had always opened the door before he'd approached it. _She _had always opened the door before he approached it.

And why was the Burrow so quiet, anyway? How could a house so full of life feel so… empty?

The door swung open, and he looked down into her face.

Had she gotten… prettier?

This wasn't right, either. Rose was supposed to make him feel comfortable, friendly. Not twitchy and nervous.

For a moment, they simply stared at each other.

"Hello," she said finally, faintly.

"Hi," he said back.

He was supposed to hug her. Or rather, she was supposed to hug him. They weren't supposed to just stand here awkwardly. But then again, they'd been awkward all summer. Or rather, they'd been awkward at the end of the last school year, and their attempted correspondence over the summer had quickly petered out.

Three months suddenly seemed an absurdly long period of time.

"Come in," she said finally, realizing that they had been staring at each other for a good few minutes and swinging the door open wider to admit him.

"It's quiet," he said, and then immediately felt stupid for saying such an obvious thing.

"Most people aren't here yet," she answered quietly, "And mom and dad had to work today, and Grandma and Grandpa went with the Potters to Diagon Alley, and Hugo's over at Claire's."

He swallowed heavily. They were clearly alone.

"Oh," he said.

A beat of silence. "You'll be up with Albus again," Rose said, "In the normal room."

"Thanks."

Silence.

"Did you hear about James and Kate?" He asked her, and then felt stupid again, for James was her cousin.

She didn't laugh at this, though, or make a sarcastic comment, which wasn't at all like her. "Yeah," she replied, "We're all really happy for them. The wedding's next year."

Silence.

Scorpius sighed in frustration. "What are we doing?" He asked, "Why are we like this? We've never been like this. We've never been awkward."

She paled, and blinked. "I… I don't know," she stammered. "Maybe because of that… conversation… we had at the end of last year?"

Scorpius felt like telling her that they hadn't finished that conversation, that after she had been released from the hospital wing, she had avoided him like the black death, but he didn't. He just sighed again.

"Maybe we should just forget about that," he said bleakly, for he didn't _want_ to forget about that. She had said that she needed him. She had hinted that she loved him. Just the mere memory made him flush, warm with happiness.

"Can we?" She said eagerly.

"Um… sure. Yeah, let's just pretend that it never happened."

She visibly relaxed. "Thanks, Scorp."

"As a matter of fact," he said, gaining momentum, "Why don't we just start this whole day over? I'll go outside and knock again, and you answer the door, and it'll be just like normal."

Without waiting for her to answer, he walked out of the room, shoulders slumped. She clearly hadn't meant what she'd said, or she wouldn't have been so thrilled to take it back. Why had he believed her anyway? She had been sobbing. She'd had a nervous breakdown! And now he was stuck looking like an idiot, totally in lo—no, sort of having a crush on his best friend, who clearly didn't feel the same way.

He exhaled loudly and closed the front door behind him.

He raised his hand to knock, and hesitated a moment. What had they been like, before? He could hardly remember how it felt to be easy with Rose, sisterly. For so long now he had wanted to tangle his fingers in her curls, kiss the small freckle at the base of her neck, the one he could only see when she pulled her hair up. He had wanted to press his whole body up against hers, lean down, and kiss those pink lips. He had wanted…

Well, these thoughts weren't helping now. He shook his head, as if to physically banish them from his brain, raised his hand, and, before he could lose his courage, knocked hard three times. Again.

Almost immediately this time, the door swung open, and Rose beamed up at him.

"Scorp!" She squealed, hurling herself through the doorway and into his arms.

He hugged her back, somewhat gingerly. This was not helping with his resolve at all. Still, he was allowed to _hug_ her. He had always hugged her. He might as well savor the moment. He wrapped his arms tighter around her, resting his face on her head. Her hair was soft, and she smelt like sugar cookies.

She pulled back from their embrace, long after she should have, still beaming.

"Come in!" She said. "I'm afraid everyone else is out, you're stuck with me for the afternoon!"

Scorpius didn't see this as a bad thing at all.

"Have you gotten your letter yet?" Rose asked, leading him into the kitchen.

"Yeah," Scorpius said, "It came last week."

"Mine too! Did you get all O's again?"

"Yeah," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, "And… I'm head boy, too."

Rose let out an ear piercing shriek. "That's wonderful, Scorp! I'm so happy for you! And guess what?"

"You're head girl?" He asked.

"Yes!" Her face fell. "Wait, how did you know? Did Albus tell you?"

"He didn't tell," Scorpius said hastily, "I guessed. You're the most likely candidate, by far. Anyway, congratulations!"

She darted forward to hug him again, excitedly.

"We get our own rooms this year!" She exclaimed.

"I know," Scorpius said, "I've been looking forward to _not_ rooming with Albus for years. I'll finally be able to get some sleep."

Rose laughed. "And I won't have to deal with all the girls in my dormitory hogging the mirrors, dolling up in the morning."

"As if you ever look in a mirror," he teased.

"Only because I never get the chance, with their big heads blocking my view," she fired back. He restrained himself from saying that she hardly needed to look in a mirror.

There was another beat of silence. She shifted closer to him.

"So…" she said, blushing again.

"So…" he repeated, clutching at a topic to discuss. Quidditch. The weather. Her family!

Argh. Since when did he have to scramble to have a simple conversation with Rose?

Well, since he realized he was a little bit in love with her. Just a little bit.

"Hello?" A hearty voice called from the entranceway. "Rosie?"

"In here, dad," she called back, hastily stepping away from Scorpius, "Scorp just arrived!"

"Yeah," said Ron, poking his head in, "His trunk's in the hall. Welcome back!"

His head disappeared and they heard him clumping up the stairs.

Scorpius looked at her and grinned, the charged moment gone.

"Well," she said, dimpling, "Welcome home!"

He smiled back. How hard could it be to pretend to not be in love with her? It couldn't be _that_ hard.

Right?


	48. Future

It was October, and Scorpius felt that he couldn't remember anything of the year so far.

The time was positively flying by.

Of course, he barely had time to sleep and eat, much less time to sit in contemplation, but there was still something unnerving about a full month having passed without him remembering a thing about it, like he had been sleeping the whole time.

There was still Quidditch practice, of course, and Albus was becoming obsessive about keeping up the Gryffindor winning streak. When he wasn't flying, or doing the mounds of homework teachers were assigning with N.E.W.T.s approaching, Scorpius was patrolling the halls or organizing prefects in his capacity as Head Boy. Before this year, Scorpius had thought that prefects were some of the best students in the whole school, but after even a month of having to try to control them, he was convinced that the teachers had assigned the foulest, most ill behaved, most annoying children at Hogwarts to be prefects, just to have a few laughs as they watched he and Rose try to wrestle the lot of them into submission. He frequently said silent apologies to Kate Turnbow in his head for all of the times during her year as Head Girl that he had thought of her as obsessively strict, and was seriously beginning to contemplate owling her to ask how she had _possibly_ remained sane at the head of this pack of imbeciles.

Of course, having his own room for the first time at Hogwarts was a definite plus.

Although it still attached onto the Gryffindor Common room, it was much easier for him to collapse into sleep when he had time to rest without Albus constantly shouting, and it was nice to be able to spread homework out across his desk without Frederick Frank, who, while likeable enough, had always been rather obsessively clean, snapping at him for being untidy.

Scorpius could see the affect of strain on the other Seventh Years, too.

Rose looked pale and gaunt, and Scorpius thought she might actually be forgetting to eat, because her uniforms were hanging rather looser than they should have been on her small frame. Once or twice a week, he forcibly sat her down at the Gryffindor table and watched her eat until he was satisfied she wouldn't tip over in class from lack of nutrition. He frequently saw Albus, Lily, and Hugo do the same, and he figured that between the four of them and the other members of her extended family, she was eating at least one solid meal a day.

Scorpius didn't know quite how, since they had the same responsibilities and most of the same classes, but even when he thought that he was so busy he couldn't possible fit everything into twenty hours a day, if he gave himself four hours of sleep so he wouldn't go absolutely loony, Rose always seemed busier. The light under her door, which was opposite his across the common room, seemed to be lit every night when he went to bed, even though he usually didn't do so until two or three in the morning.

She was beginning to be harsher than usual to those she caught breaking the rules, as well, and Scorpius thought that she was so stressed already that she simply couldn't handle the irritation of delinquents on top of it all. He didn't like to undermine her authority, and since she was usually fairly soft, her new vigor was not actually unjust, but the night that she had threatened two first years, lost after curfew and unable to find their own tower the second week of school, with detention, Scorpius had stopped her before she could utter the sentence, shooting her a significant look. She was usually quite understanding towards first years, sympathetic towards their plight their first time away from home, and when he caught her eye, she seemed to come back to herself, swallowing her harsh words and instead walking the terrified first years up to their dormitories.

Even Albus was more serious than usual. He was so swamped with homework that, for the first time, he started to be really diligent. Though he didn't like it much, he spent less and less time with Elsie and more time doing his work, either alone or with Scorpius and Rose, while Elsie looked sadly on from her own chair in the corner. Feeling much the same way about his Quidditch players as Scorpius did about the prefects, he was running harsher and harsher practices, snapping at anyone who dared to make a mistake or let their minds wander from practice for the merest moment.

It was at breakfast the first of October that Scorpius finally realized how empty he felt, as if he was just a shell of his former self. He almost smiled at his own melodrama, but somewhere between his stay at the Burrow and now, he had become the kind of person who didn't laugh or smile anymore.

He glanced to his left and saw Rose picking at her eggs. She couldn't have eaten more than a bite, and only one bite was out of her piece of toast, as well. It was a beautiful fall day, the type that would have felt like summer if the leaves hadn't turned vivid and fiery, and a shaft of clear sunlight from the enchanted ceiling fell across Rose's face. She closed her eyes, seeming to sink into the warmth of the beam, but opened them again quickly and glanced around, as if checking to see that nobody had caught her moment of peace. She was so pale in the sunlight that her skin looked almost translucent, and the freckles that hadn't been prominent since second year stood out in relief once again. She had dark smudges under her eyes, which were darker blue than ever with exhaustion.

Across the table, Albus was eating steadily, but mechanically, as if he could only focus on one task at a time, and right now, he was programmed to lift the fork from the plate to his mouth over and over again unthinkingly. Elsie sat next to him, but unusually, they were not touching. They usually sat close enough together that their shoulders and thighs brushed, but Elsie, who had finished eating and now had her hands folded primly on the table, was staring bleakly straight ahead, a full six inches from her boyfriend.

Scorpius had just opened his mouth to comment on how ridiculous it was, that stress had turned them all from living humans to automatons, when a rustling of wings announced the mail call.

Orion swooped down towards him, carrying a letter in his talons. Probably a letter from home. Had Scorpius been writing his mother as often as he ought? He couldn't remember writing any letters at all, but he thought that he had probably done so, just as unthinkingly as he was doing everything recently.

A school owl swooped down and landed in front of Rose, too, and she reached out and untied the letter from the owl's leg, setting it on the table unopened and stabbing her eggs once again, not bothering to lift the fork to her mouth. The owl took this as an invitation to eat them himself, and Rose pushed the plate towards him, looking grateful that she didn't have to pretend to eat anymore.

Scorpius tore his eyes from her down to his own letter, noticing that it wasn't addressed in his mother's neat cursive, as usual, but in his father's bold hand.

Apprehensively, he broke the seal. Draco usually left the writing to his wife, who added his thoughts and affections unfailingly at the end. Scorpius couldn't remember receiving a letter that his father had written.

_Scorpius,_

_I fear that you will be alarmed that I have written you instead of your mother, but don't worry, nothing is seriously wrong._

_Though she has caught a rather severe cold and is currently resting at St. Mungo's, this isn't a malady that should worry you. She has already been administered the necessary potion and we should return to the Manor tomorrow, after she takes this opportunity to rest and after the Healers have cleared her to return home._

_She had wanted to appraise you of this herself, and reassure you that all is as it should be, but by the time Orion had flown over from the Manor, she was napping, so I am taking this quiet moment at her bedside to write in her stead._

_Rest assured that by tomorrow, we will both be back home, perfectly healthy. In the meantime, please try to keep yourself perfectly healthy as well. Though you must be extremely busy, I wish you to bear in mind that no assignment can possibly be worth ill health. Give your regards to your friends Rose and Albus. Mother and Grandmother send their love, and we all miss you, as always, and are very much looking forward to having you back home for the winter holidays._

_Love,_

_Father_

"Alright, Scorp?" Rose asked automatically as he set the letter down.

"Yeah, everything's fine," he answered, staring down at his breakfast and finding that none of it looked particularly appealing anymore. "Mother's at St. Mungo's, but she only caught a cold. She'll be home tomorrow. Father sends regards."

Rose hummed in the back of her throat, her own letter still unopened.

"You gonna open that, Rosie?" Albus asked without looking up from his plate. Rose hummed again.

"I should go," Elsie said tentatively, looking at Albus. "I've got to get down to the greenhouses." Her gaze lingered on him for a moment, but when he didn't speak she got up to go, looking slightly put off.

"Bye," Scorpius called after she had already gone, and a split second too late, Albus turned to watch her go.

Rose reached for her letter. Albus looked sadly down at his plate again.

Rose tore the letter open and scanned it quickly.

"Alright?" Scorpius asked her.

"Yeah, it's from mum, everything's normal. She asked if I'd been eating enough." Rose shot a suspicious look at Albus, who looked guiltily away and reached for another piece of toast. Scorpius knew that his Aunt Hermione, anxious about her daughter's course load and knowing her obsessive study habits, had asked Albus to watch out for Rose.

"Well, you haven't," Scorpius pointed out.

"Yes, I have," she snapped. "Why does everybody worry so much about what I'm eating? I'm a big girl, I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself!" She snatched a piece of toast as she spoke, as if to prove her point, but as she stood to go, she looked thinner than ever.

"Women," Albus said gloomily as they watched her flounce away, letter still on the table.

"It's not as if you've ever had trouble," Scorpius grumbled at him, "You've been going with Elsie for what, five years now? And you're doing fine."

"I used to think that, too." Albus said.

"Well if you're having problems, there's no hope for the rest of us."

"We're not… having problems, per say. Not exactly. It's just…"

He trailed off, and Scorpius shot him a questioning look. "You're not going to break up with her, are you?" He asked.

Albus looked at his hands. "I know you'll think I'm daft," he said, "And I know that she's the only girl I've ever been with, but I think she's it. Mate, I'm going to marry her someday."

"So you're not going to break up with her?"

"Of course not!" Albus yelped. "It's just hard for us, me being so busy. And whenever I'm free, she's busy, too. But we'll be fine, after we get through this. I'm set. What about you?"

Scorpius froze midway through taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"What do you mean, am I set?" He asked warily.

"Well… It's not like you've ever had a girl, not really. Lydia hardly counts."

"So?" Scorpius shot, "I'm seventeen! I've got _years_ before I'll even think about marriage!"

"Well you need a girl first," Albus answered, and Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Yes, thank you. But just because you got lucky on your first shot doesn't mean that the rest of us are going to marry the first woman we ever fancy."

"I _realize_ that." Albus said, sounding frustrated, "But you're not even looking! Is there something you're not telling us, or something?" He shot Scorpius a meaningful look.

"I like women, if that's what you mean," Scorpius returned, "But it doesn't mean I have to have a girlfriend right now. I've barely got time to sleep at night, you think I have time to juggle a girl, too?"

"Fine," said Albus, looking slightly chagrined, "I'm just saying that this is sort of it. Our last year here. We're not going to see most of these people again, unless we have a _reason_ to. So if there's someone you're interested in, you should probably act now, before you lose contact with her."

Scorpius rolled his eyes again. "You're acting like there's no girls outside Hogwarts," he said.

"There're girls outside Hogwarts," Albus conceded, "But there are few witches outside Hogwarts. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with marrying a muggle, but it certainly makes things harder."

"Noted," said Scorpius, rising to go.

"Look," Albus said, rising as well, "I'm just saying, mate, the future's a lot closer than you think it is. So you might as well keep your eyes out, eh?"

And as Scorpius watched him go, the future had never seemed closer.


	49. Snowfall

**I'm beginning to actually have the end of this drawn up in my head, instead of just typing and seeing what comes out, and I forsee an ending relatively soon.**

**If any of you are interested in the _Hunger Games,_ I've finally caved and read them, discovered I liked them, and found myself so inspired that I started a new series of one-shots based on them, so please check that out.**

**Thank you, all of you who have given me support and encouragement on this story and others. It gives me confidence and the renewed desire to write, and I eagerly await hearing from all of you whenever you submit a review. Wherever you are, whomever you are with, and whatever you are doing, I wish you and yours a very happy and healthy New Year.**

**Once again, I own nothing that appears in the original _Harry Potter_ series, this is all the property of J.K. Rowling and her publishers.**

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><p>Snow fell thick in the week after Halloween, a continuous, three-day blizzard that deposited so much snow on the Hogwarts grounds that, once it had stopped and the sun had reemerged, glittering fiercely off the drifts, Herbology was cancelled until Professor Longbottom could heat a clear path to the Greenhouses.<p>

The break was a welcome one.

Scorpius looked back on that clear October morning as a one of awakening, of shaking himself from a deep stupor, and since then, he had, while still inundated with homework, been more adept at timing himself and more willing to accept an E rather than an O on every assignment.

Now, faced with the prospect of the free period that Herbology usually filled at the end of his Friday afternoon, no Quidditch for the weekend, also cancelled by the snow, and a gloriously empty weekend stretching ahead of him, he felt himself relax fully for the first time all year.

"Hello, Rose," he said cheerily when he entered the common room, intent on using the welcome break to flop onto the sofa closest to the fire and lay there, unmoving, until dinner time.

"Hello," she answered distractedly. She was sitting on his intended couch, but he draped himself over it anyway and dropped his feet into her lap. She shot him a very dirty look, and he grinned innocently.

"You'll crumple my Transfiguration essay!" She snapped, carefully removing the parchment from under his shoes.

"Why in Godric's name are you working on an essay right now?" He asked her.

"Because," she sighed sharply, "It's due on Tuesday!"

Scorpius closed his eyes and allowed his head to drop back. His mind felt blissfully blank. "It's only Friday," he mumbled.

"It's only Friday now," Rose agreed, "But before I know it, it'll be Monday and I'll be swamped."

Scorpius cracked open one eyelid. "You've skipped Saturday and Sunday."

"Well, I'm very busy."

"Doing what, exactly?" Scorpius asked her. "Because it seems to me that the teachers were merciful this week, we don't have any Herbology at all, Quidditch is cancelled, and there's nothing else to fill your weekend."

Rose's quill stilled on her page. "I'd just like to get caught up before the new week starts."

Scorpius reached one arm out and snached the parchment out of her hands without even sitting up.

"Do me a favor, Rosie, and for this weekend, at least today and tomorrow, just relax?"

"I can't possibly," said Rose automatically.

"Yes, you can," Scorpius persisted. "This is getting really ridiculous. You've barely slept since term started, and you're actually forgetting to eat. Even your mum's worried, and she's about as studious as they come."

"Right, and tell Albus to stop reporting on me," she sniffed. "But it's not as if mum ever had a seventh year, really. I mean, she was camping the whole time. And so was dad."

"Your mum came back," Scorpius pointed out.

"Fine, she did. But it wasn't the same, not as doing them all in a row." Scorpius shot her a speculative glance, and she added hastily, "At least, dad didn't come back, so he can't pretend to have any idea what Seventh Year's like. I sort of like it, doing something that they haven't done. I'm so tired of being bloody compared to them all the time."

Scorpius opened both of his eyes this time. "Is that it, then?"

"Is what it?" Rose spluttered.

"You hate being compared to your parents just because of what they did in the war. Believe me, I get that. But being the perfect student isn't going to distinguish you from them. Besides, it'll drive you barmy before this year is over. The rest of us, too."

Rose looked at her hands. "I just want to prove that I can do something, too," she said softly. "That I'm not just an extension of them. I want to prove that I'm a real witch, a _good_ one."

"You're the best bloody student in the whole year, Rose," Scorpius said, sitting up, "Nobody's ever doubted that you're one of the brightest witches that anybody's seen in years."

"Yeah, since mum," Rose said bitterly.

"You're not your mum," Scorpius said firmly. "Never will be. Nobody wants you to be. Your family certainly doesn't want you to be. They already have one of her, what would they want another one for?"

Rose sighed, and rolled her parchment up slowly. "I just don't like being constantly compared to her in the _Prophet._ It's happening more and more as I grow up, the gossip pieces comparing me to her."

"Well, it's not as if the _Daily Prophet_ has ever printed lies, have they?" Scorpius asked sarcastically. "Rose, you're being stupid, and I'm saying this as a person who loves you."

Rose looked at him shyly out of the corner of her eyes.

"Those who know you already love you for who you are. The others shouldn't matter to you. And please, don't stop studying, but this… this _obsession_ has got to stop."

"It's not that bad!"

"Rose, I could span your waist with both of my hands."

"You have big hands."

"That's not the problem."

He held out both hands, as if to prove his statement, but she rose, blushing.

"Fine," she sighed. "I'll just drop this off in my room and be right back," she said, waving the roll of parchment and hurrying off to her room.

"Oi, Scorp!" Albus called, scrambling through the portrait hole.

"What's up?" Scorpius asked him.

"We want a snowball fight, once everybody gets out of classes," Albus said, grinning. "Elsie's still in Charms, and Lily and Hugo are stuck in the dungeons, but once they get out, I'm gonna round up as many people as want to play and start the biggest snowball fight this place has ever seen. We've got perfect packing snow. Just wanted to tell you first, spread the word!"

"What word?" Rose asked, reentering the common room.

Albus looked warily at Scorpius, as if telling Rose could get him into trouble.

"We're… going to have a snowball fight, once classes let out," he said hesitantly.

Rose grinned, obviously to his surprise. "I get Scorp on my team," she returned, "And no magic this time, Albus Severus! I'm sick of all your cheating!"

"Fine," Albus agreed hastily, looking at Scorpius again, "Um… forgive me for asking, but… are you feeling alright?"

"Never better," said Rose breezily, "Why?"

"Don't take this the wrong way," Albus said hastily, holding his hands up in front of him, "But you're not… doing homework."

"It's the weekend," Rose said airily, "I've decided to take a break."

"Cool," Albus said, relaxing visibly, "What brought about this drastic change?"

"I think it was the snow," Rose said, "It makes everything feel crisp and new, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, sure," Albus grinned, "I always forget, you're our little Christmas Rose, a winter fairy."

Rose raised her hand, as if to hit him, but he scrambled back out the portrait hole before she got the chance.

"Forget you heard that," she said threateningly to Scorpius, "Awful nickname."

"Which part," he teased, "The Christmas Rose or the winter fairy?"

She simply raised her eyebrow at him. "I wonder what's for dinner," she said, "I'm famished."


	50. Jumper

"More tart, Scorp?"

He looked across the table at her, their eyes locking.

"No, thanks," he muttered.

She held his gaze for a moment longer, and once again, he felt the strange, pulsing electricity between them. She blushed, and looked away, offering the dessert to James instead.

Looking back, it seemed as though he could always remember the feeling, the static in their touch, the jolt every time their eyes met. But this was the first time—no, the second—that he was almost positive that she felt it too.

The first time had been several weeks before, the afternoon of the snowball fight, when she had rushed at him in such excitement that they had beaten Al's team that she toppled the both of them over into a snow bank. But instead of getting up right away, she had lain there, on top of him, staring at him with those big, blue eyes, breathing shallowly, mouth just inches from his and moving infinitesimally closer every second… and then, of couse, Al had snuck up behind them and pushed their heads both down into the snow drift, effectively ruining the moment, and the battle had started anew. But there had been something there, in that one, perfect moment, something that she had felt too. He was sure of it.

He snuck a glance at her over his plate of half-eaten treacle tart. She was looking at him. They both hastily looked away.

"We're just so thrilled to have you with us at Christmas this year, Scorpius!" Mrs. Weasley crooned. "It's a shame that your parents had to be in Bulgaria for the holiday, but we're thrilled that you could join us anyway. More cake?"

"No, thank you," Scorpius said, averting his attention to her, "And thank you for having me. I don't know where else I would have gone."

"Don't mention it, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, "After all, you're practically family by now!" She shot him a very significant glance, and he felt his face grow hot. "And we love having all our family for Christmas." She finished casually.

Indeed, all of the many generations of Weasleys had gathered, and Scorpius was frankly surprised that the Burrow hadn't burst at the seams yet, especially considering that there were more of them each year.

There were Bill and Fleur, and even Gabrielle and her French husband, who seemed to talk to no one but her, crooning over their new Granddaughter, Cecelia, while Teddy and Victoire looked on proudly. There was Charlie, in deep conversation with Louis about Romania while Dominique filed her nails and chatted with her Aunt Audrey. George and Angelina were having a healthy debate with Ginny and Hugo about proper Quidditch maneuvers, while Fred and Roxanne played exploding snap in the next room with Albus and Lily, who was leaning up against Avery's legs. Hermione seemed to have been trapped in a conversation with Percy about the Ministry and was shooting accusatory looks at Ron, who pretended not to notice them while he shoveled dessert into his mouth. James was talking with his father, holding tightly to Kate's hand, on which shimmered a diamond ring, which Mrs. Weasley exclaimed over whenever she got the chance. And Rose, of course, across the table, avoiding his gaze.

The small room was positively packed.

The dishes on the table began to stack themselves, including Ron's, still holding its half eaten cake, and he made a sound of protest. Everybody else, though, seemed to take this as a cue to move into the sitting room for presents.

Scorpius had been present for the ritual giving of the Weasley jumpers for several years now, and it was quite the procedure. Mrs. Weasley started with her husband, and then Bill and Fleur, Charlie, George and Angelina, Ron and Hermione, and Harry and Ginny, and then distributed jumpers to her grandchildren, oldest first. Scorpius supposed that Cecelia would come last, being part of a new generation.

Albus, sitting beside him, sighed heavily. "This always takes forever," he muttered.

Harry shot him a warning look across the room, as if he had heard his son, and Albus bowed his head apologetically. "But it's really important to Grandma," he recited dutifully.

Scorpius grinned and pretended to be very invested in Fleur, exclaiming over her sweater in a shade of lurid pink. Molly beamed at her, but as soon as she turned around to get Charlie's, Fleur pulled a face at her husband and Bill stifled a laugh.

"Hey," James said, reentering the room with two fresh butterbeers, handing one to Kate, and squeezing into the only floor space left, "How's seventh year treating you?"

"Eh," Scorpius said noncommittally, "It's a lot of work."

"Yeah," said James reminiscently, "The good old days. I don't miss them at all. And thank Merlin Uncle George made me a partner in his shops, I make more than most of those prats who started at the ministry."

Kate sighed. "You definitely make more than me."

"That doesn't matter," James said affectionately, taking her hand.

"Congratulations, by the way," Scorpius said, "I'm really happy for the both of you."

"Thanks," Kate beamed. "I worry that it's a bit soon, but…"

"When you're sure, why wait?" James finished. "We're both doing well for ourselves, so that's no issue."

"You're lucky," said Scorpius, "living the good life while I have to deal with those idiots they call prefects."

Kate smirked. "See? You lot are a load of work."

"Yeah," Scorpius sighed, "Sorry, by the way, for thinking that… well, for not being more understanding with you."

"No problem," she said, "But what exactly were you thinking?"

Mrs. Weasley came bustling over. "Here's your jumper, James dear. And one for you, Kate!" Kate took it, looking surprised and forgetting all about Scorpius, for which he was grateful.

Mrs. Weasley handed a package to Rose, and then bustled across the room, carrying Albus'.

"Thanks, Grandma," he said weakly, taking it.

"And here, Scorpius, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, forcing a paper wrapped parcel into his arms. Scorpius was stunned. Never before had he received a Weasley jumper, nor had he expected to.

"Mrs. Weasley," he stammered, "You didn't have to, I mean, you—"

"Never mind that, dear," she said affectionately, "Like I said, you're practically family!"

"Thanks," he stammered, as she rushed off to fetch Hugo and Lily's jumpers.

Albus elbowed him and grinned, and Rose was beaming at him from the next couch over, holding her white jumper, imprinted with a capital 'R.'

Albus was unwrapping his own forest green jumper, shaking his head at the letter 'A' on the front.

"As if I can't remember my name," he muttered. "Or, maybe I'll get really confused and go around thinking I'm Aunt Angelina. Well, go on, Scorp, open yours!"

Scorpius shook open his paper slowly, wanting to savor the moment. The jumper was a deep, crimson red. He unfolded it, expecting to see an 'S' knitted into the front, but instead, it was a large golden lion, its mouth open, midroar.

"Harry told me about your Patronus," Mrs. Weasley said, catching his eye, "I hope it's not too much."

"No, it's perfect!" Scorpius exclaimed, "I love it!"

"Well," Ron said ruefully, cradling his own magenta jumper, "Nobody will ever say you don't belong in Gryffindor House, not with a jumper like that."

"You don't really like it?" Albus asked, appalled.

"Yeah, I do," Scorpius answered. It seemed as if he was unable to stop grinning broadly. "It's absolutely perfect."


	51. Resemblance

**Once again, life just got ahead of me. But, the end is (very, very) close, and so I will try my best to stay on track and have this finished before too long!**

**I have checked and doublechecked, so hopefully there aren't any major mistakes, but recently I've been writing in a very different tense, so hopefully that doesn't sneak through.**

**Part of the reason that I've been MIA recently is that I've been writing for the Hunger Games-and I'm desperate for feedback over there, so if you like that series, take a look at my collection 'Familial Affection.' I'm always open for character suggestions, too, because I've run dry.**

**Sorry again for the wait.**

**I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.**

* * *

><p>Scorpius was feeling more content than he had felt in a long time.<p>

Lying in the sitting room in a post-Christmas, post-supper induced state of inactivity, he sighed happily. Rose, lying at the other end of the couch with her toes burrowed under his leg, was humming snatches of a little song that he didn't recognize, perhaps a muggle tune. Albus, sitting at the base of their couch, was staring into the flames of a blue ball of fire contained in a jar over the mantle, mesmerized by their motion.

He let his eyes flutter shut. He could feel Rose wiggling her toes slightly to her own rhythm, felt the pattern against the underside of his thigh. He heard Albus' steady breathing and felt a tuft of his wayward hair brush Scorpius' ankle every time he inhaled.

"Stop, Al, that tickles," Rose said softly.

"Hmm?"

"Your hair tickles me every time you breathe."

"Sorry," Albus said, reaching a hand up to smooth his hair, but it sprang back up immediately. Scorpius smirked a little, and Rose rolled her eyes.

There was a flash of light, and a click. They turned their heads simultaneously to see Mrs. Weasley standing in the doorway.

"That brings back memories," She said fondly, waving the smoke away from the camera and then indicating a framed picture on the mantle.

Rose sat up slowly and walked over to the picture, smiling as she picked it up.

"I've never seen this one before," she said as she sat back down besides Scorpius, Albus scrambling up to sit on her other side.

"I just found it in the attic," Mrs. Weasley said, "and I thought I'd frame it."

"Is that your mum and dad?" Scorpius asked Rose once Mrs. Weasley had left.

"Yeah, and Uncle Harry. They must be our age, or a little younger."

In the frame, the three teenagers, seated in a row on the same couch that Rose, Scorpius and Albus now occupied, laughed silently. Harry looked straight into the camera, grinned, and then turned his head to watch Ron and Hermione, who, though smiling, appeared to be arguing. Hermione turned her head to look into the camera, and Ron smiled fondly at her.

"Good Godric, that's scary," Albus said.

"It's not as if arguing is out of character for them," Rose shot back.

"It's you two!" Albus joked. "Well, you don't look the same, but it's close enough."

"Please," Rose snorted. "We don't argue nearly that much."

"You two always have the same dopey look on your face when you look at each other, though."

Rose moved a hand toward her hand, threateningly, and Albus smiled sheepishly at her.

"We're similar enough to them, I guess," Albus went on hurriedly, "I mean, not exactly, but the similarities are definitely _there_."

"Why, because you look like Uncle Harry?"

"There's three of us, two boys and a girl," Albus shot back.

"You are dating a girl you met really young, like Harry," Scorpius said, "And Rose is the smartest witch in our year. Does that mean I'm Ron?"

"Well, you two are in lo—I mean, you are a Quidditch keeper." Albus smirked, and Scorpius hit him, hard.

"I don't think that would please your dad much," Scorpius said to Rose, grinning.

"What," Al said, "You two being in love or you being him?"

"We're not bloody in love!" Scorpius said.

"Well," Rose said slowly, ignoring them both, "I guess Lily could be Ginny. Scary, red-headed, good at Quidditch, and dating her brother's best friend."

"Don't remind me," Albus groaned.

"Don't remind you what?" Hugo said, his head appearing from around the door.

"Nothing," Al said hastily.

"So that would make Hugo… Who?" Asked Rose devilishly.

"Dunno," Scorpius replied. "Hey, _he_ can be your dad."

"Why 'cause we've both got red hair?" Hugo asked.

"Because… you're both in love with Muggles?"

Hugo rolled his eyes. "I don't know what kind of game you all think you're playing, but it is seriously messed up," he muttered as he walked away.

"Nah," Albus said dismissively, "You can be Ron. Hugo can just be some other shmuck. And James can be… Grandpa James."

"Right," Rose said, "Because the way they are with women, we never saw _that_ comparison before."

"Well, how much of a coincidence is it that they both marry the one woman who ever turned them down?"

"I don't think that's really a coincidence," Rose said, rolling her eyes, "Men like that need a good strong woman to shove them back into place."

"Too bad we don't have any mortal enemies that could be the Mal—never mind," Al concluded hastily.

Scorpius shot him a hard look.

"I'm going to see if there's any dessert left," Al said, hurrying from the room.

"Sorry," Rose muttered. "He has no filter."

"Believe me, I know," Scorpius said ruefully, "I've known him for seven years."

"It could be worse—I've known him for seventeen."

There was a beat of silence and he felt again the sensation that there was something palpable between them in the air. Her blue eyes were dark in the firelight, her curls all gold and auburn.

"Anyway," He said, "It's not as if we're in love. I mean, that's totally ridiculous."

She gave him a long probing look.

"Right," she finally agreed, "Totally ridiculous."

"Not as if there's anything wrong with you," he said hastily, "It's just that people just _assume_ that there's no way that we could be just friends, when in reality—"

"That's all we'll ever be?" Her voice was hard, and her eyes looked almost menacingly dark.

"What? No—I mean yes. I… What? I just meant that there's no reason we _couldn't _be just friends… right?"

Rose laughed suddenly, shaking her head as if to clear it of thought. "Of course, that's what I meant. Just… Never mind. I'm going to help Grandma clean up."

She stood and gave him one lingering look, then moved silently out of the room.

And Scorpius didn't feel so content anymore.


	52. Encounter

"Rose?"

Scorpius pulled open the door to the compartment. Rose was curled up on the seat by the window, quite alone.

"Oh," She said, sitting up, "You're here."

"I was looking for Albus," He explained, "But he's with Elsie, so it's pretty much a lost cause."

"Right," Rose said, a little stiffly, and turned back to the window.

A little gingerly, he took the seat opposite of her, looking carefully into her averted face.

Her blue eyes stared unseeingly out the window, one wayside curl from her messily piled hair falling over her forehead. Her mouth was tight, and her hands were clenched tightly in her lap.

Scorpius knew this Rose—this was the look she always wore when she was tense, or perhaps angry.

"Are you alright?" He asked her.

She nodded her head a fraction of an inch.

"I don't believe you."

Rose tipped her head forward until her forehead rested against the cool glass of the train window.

"I'm fine," She said, but her voice was devoid of its usual fullness.

"I feel like I haven't talked with you in days," He said, realizing even as he said it how stupid it sounded. He'd been staying with her family, after all, he had seen her every day.

He expected Rose to point this out, or roll her eyes, but she only made a small noise of assent.

He felt his own hands tightening, just a bit, in his lap. It had been like this ever since the night in the living room, the night with the picture of her parents and uncle.

She was slipping away from him, one unspoken word at a time, and he was sick of it. He missed her. He missed being her friend. He even missed the strange, throbbing _something_ between them.

He missed it all, and it had only been a week.

It was ridiculous, and if he hadn't missed her so much, he might have been embarrassed that he had to see her so frequently to feel normal.

"I'm sorry about James," he said, suspecting that it was her cousin's merciless teasing about them emerging from the living room together that had driven the wedge in between them this time.

"It's not your fault he's a prat," she said softly.

"Is that it, then? Is that why you won't talk to me? Because you know that nothing he says—"

"Matters?" She finished for him. "But it does matter. It matters to me, and it matters to the rest of my family. You know they're just biding their time until we get together, and I don't know how to tell them that it's not going to happen."

"It's… it's not?" Scorpius stammered.

"But every time James says something stupid like that, they just wait more eagerly." Rose said, ignoring his interjection. She sat up straight, looking him right in the eye. "Do you know what happened when I went up to my room that night and found all of my cousins staring at me, waiting for me to tell them what happened? Because James had told Kate, and Kate had told Victoire, who had told Dominique, and _everybody _knew, and it was all a lie!"

"Well," Scorpius said awkwardly, "At least now I know why Hugo kept shooting me dirty looks."

"I'm sorry I've shut you out." Rose said, after a moment, "But I didn't want to… fuel the fire?"

"Believe me," he said, relieved that he had done nothing wrong, "I understand."

"It'll be better," she said, "When we get back to school. With everybody there, nobody'll care about these stupid rumors anymore."

"Right," he said, but he was doubtful. The members of the Weasley clan were celebrities at Hogwarts School, and he had to admit that, though he hated it, he held a sort of infamy of his own. He remembered the gossip of the year before, when Dominique had been seen with her ex-boyfriend at a House Party, and he knew that news of him and Rose would attract more attention even than that.

Indeed, only a moment later, the face of a girl, a fourth or perhaps fifth year, peeped through the window, spotted the two alone together, broke into a wide grin, and then disappeared as the girl ran off, probably to tell all of her friends.

Scorpius rolled his eyes and rose to pull the shade over the window with a decisive thump.

"Like you said," he remarked drily, sitting not back in his seat, but in the one next to her, "Nobody cares."

She laughed a little, just a huff of air in the back of her throat, and turned to face him full on.

"Well," she said, "We'll just give it a couple of weeks. Then Dominique will have a new boyfriend and _then_ nobody will care."

He winked at her dramatically. "And then," he drawled, "I can have my way with you in secret."

"Don't be stupid, Scorp," she said, reaching over to whack at him playfully, but her voice was breathy and her eyes were wide.

Avoiding her smacks, he took her wrist in his and held it fast.

"Your hands are tiny," he said suddenly, unfurling it to hold against his own.

"Maybe yours are just big," she replied.

He grinned a little lopsidedly, and her lips parted. "You know what they say about big hands," he joked.

"Big… egos?"

"Funny," he said, moving an inch closer.

He hadn't been this close to her before, not that he could remember. He scanned her face, noticing little things he hadn't before—the exact pink of her lips, the tiny specks of green in her blue eyes, the endearing smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose.

"You've got pretty eyes," she murmured, leaning in just a bit more, hand still pressed against his. She curled her fingers down, slowly, until they were nestled in-between his. He mimicked her, clasping her hand.

"Not really, just grey," he breathed.

When she spoke, he could feel her warm breath fan his face. "No," she said, "Silver. Like rain."

He moved closer, though it didn't seem possible. He was mere millimeters from her, searching her eyes to see if she minded.

She exhaled softly, and closed her eyes.

It felt like he had been waiting for this moment for months, years, since the first moment he had seen her on the platform, and now, after years of this unknown feeling of _something_, the tension was at a head.

He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers, just the lightest touch.

The door to the compartment flew open with a bang, and Scorpius practically leaped across the aisle into his own seat.

Albus looked skeptically between the two of them, Rose flushed and breathless, slumped against the seat, and Scorpius, looking disheveled and frustrated.

"Amy Holden is telling everybody that you two are shagging in here."

Rose flushed, a deep, dark pink.

"Well," Scorpius said irritably, "Obviously we aren't. I don't even know who Amy Holden is."

"What were you doing?" Albus pressed, "And Rose, why are you so pink?"

"We were playing Exploding Snap," Scorpius lied, pulling a pack of cards from his pocket, "And I was winning, before you interrupted."

"Sorry," Albus said, not sounding sorry at all.

He sat by Rose, looking protective.

"How 'bout a game?" He asked pointedly.

"Yeah, sure," Scorpius said, dealing the cards and catching Rose's eye. She gave him the smallest of smiles.

Apparently, they would be waiting a bit longer.


	53. Affirmation

"Mr. Malfoy!"

Scorpius looked up, torn from his thoughts with a start.

"Sorry?" He stammered.

Professor Chase sighed, and pursed her lips. "I asked you to please inform the class of the necessary ingredient in the Fireflesh potion," she said crisply.

"Dragon tongue," Scorpius answered, a bit sheepishly.

She gave him a long, searching look. "Good," She said, after a moment. "Now, Mr. MacGuffin…"

Scorpius caught Rose's eye, and she made a little face at him, one that clearly said _that's what you get for not paying attention._

He made one back, one that hopefully said _we need to talk._

He hovered over her as she gathered her potions things, hoping that he could finally catch her for a moment. It had been three days since the… incident, and either they had both been absurdly busy, Albus was being more annoyingly intrusive than ever, or the universe was conspiring against them. Or perhaps all three.

He hadn't had even the briefest moment alone with her, and he was going slowly insane.

"So," he said hopefully as she slipped the strap over her shoulder and started towards the doorway.

"So," she answered, grinning as she always did at him.

Well, she wasn't shutting him out. That was a good sign, wasn't it? But was it a _I'm as in love with you as you may or may not be with me _good sign, or more like a _we'll just ignore what happened because I don't want to ruin our friendship _good sign?

"I was hoping we could—" he began, but Professor McGonagall was suddenly in front of them.

"Hello, Professor," he said woodenly. It was just his bloody luck.

"Mr. Malfoy," she said crisply. "Miss Weasley, if I might have a word…"

"Of course," she said, shooting Scorpius an apologetic look. "We'll talk later," she whispered as she followed the Headmistress up the staircase.

Scorpius felt the familiar burst of hope at her words, but quickly tamped it down. That couldn't be a _we'll sort this out, because nothing can hold our love apart_ talk, could it? More likely to be a _I'll let you down easily, so it won't be awkward when I see you later _talk.

He sighed. Now he was thinking about eternal love and its barriers like he was a bloody poet, or something. He swore he was going to be barmy by dinner time.

…

Rose looked astonished and a little alarmed when he appeared from a side corridor after dinner, grabbed her by the hand, and steered her back down the deserted hall.

"Scorp?" She asked as she followed him, almost trotting to keep up with his long strides, "Are you alright?"

"Fantastic. You?"

"Fine," she said a little breathlessly as he turned and backed her against the hard stone wall, a comfortable foot of space between them.

"How was Headmistress McGonagall?" He asked conversationally.

"Just fine," she answered, "She just wanted to know if I thought my mum would be interested in taking a temporary teaching position."

"Brilliant."

"Why did you drag me off down a deserted corridor in the middle of the night?"

He gave her a long searching look. "I think you know."

"Don't be cryptic."

"Don't be dense."

"Do you want to talk about when we ki… what happened on the train?"

Scorpius let out a shaky breath. "Yes," he said quietly, "I think we should."

She closed her eyes, and when they fluttered back open, they were a startling deep blue. "I agree," she said softly.

"Well?" He asked.

There was a beat of silence. He heard his heart thud twice.

"You kissed me," she said bluntly.

"Yes," he agreed.

He could see the questions form in her eyes. _Was it a mistake? Would you have done more, if Albus hadn't interrupted? What did it mean to you?_

"Why?"

"I don't… I… I mean… Rosie, you have to know it wasn't a mistake."

"It wasn't?" She asked in a small voice.

"No! Of course not!"

"Were you curious?"

"Yeah. I mean, I was, but I didn't really have to wonder. I think I already knew."

"You knew that you… fancied me?" She sounded confused.

"Well of course I knew that I fancied you, that doesn't take a genius to figure out. I even already knew that I _more_ than fancied you. I just didn't want to admit it."

He took a step towards her, gauging her reaction carefully. They had been here so many times before.

"Admit what?" Her voice was almost a whisper, but he was standing so close to her that it took no effort to understand her.

"You know."

"Admit that you… wanted me?" She whispered.

He smirked, and took another half step in her direction. Instinctually, she took a matching step back, and her face registered surprise as she collided with the wall.

"Like I said, I already knew that I wanted you."

"So why, then?"

He chuckled darkly.

"Maybe I wanted to prove that _you _wanted _me._"

She arranged her lips in a matching smirk.

"I already knew that I wanted you," she said, inches from his ear.

He let out a deep, silent breath.

"Well," he said, his courage bolstered by her admittance, "Maybe I wanted to prove that I _liked_ you."

And then, before she could open her mouth to refute this, before they could be interrupted by a teacher or a student or another damn Weasley, he took her by the shoulders and covered her lips with his.

It was a soft kiss, gentle, inquisitive. He heard his heart beat hard, three times, and then pulled back.

Rose looked dazed, and flushed. She blinked up at him, and he reached up and tucked an errant curl behind her ear, running his finger down her jaw.

"Well?" He said, trying to hide the anxiety in his voice.

"I think you proved that you _liked_ me," She said, her voice catching a little.

She reached up, still tentative, and wove her arms around his neck.

"I think all that's left is to prove that I _like_ you."

She initiated the kiss this time, but he enthusiastically reciprocated.

Skimming his arms down her sides to wind around her waist, he pressed his body more fully against hers and felt her heart race. He brushed his tongue lightly against the curve of her lower lip, and when she opened her mouth, he thought he might drown in her, in sugar cookies and roses and rain.

"Scorp," She sighed, pulling back, and it was more an affirmation than a question.

"Rosie," he answered. "We shouldn't get carried away."

Still, it was hard to leave her embrace, to offer her his hand and escort her back up to Gryffindor Tower.

But he slept deeply that night, happy and secure in the knowledge that they would, in fact, have tomorrow. 


	54. Goodbyes

**Two updates in less than a month! I hope you are all proud of me.**

**Just because I've had some questions, I wanted to clear some things up... This story is _much_ longer than I anticipated it being when I started it about a year ago... I'm sorry that there've been huge delays and things, but it did get a bit overwhelming. **

**After this, there should be one more chapter and I'm planning an epilouge, and then I will finally be finished!**

**Again, I owe you all a huge thank you for sticking with me through months of nothing, and I appreciate so much all of the support this story is getting. Please continue to review and reccomend, etc., because all the support is amazing.**

**Also, I do not own anything Harry Potter besides this story.**

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><p>"Have you seen my tie?"<p>

"Have you checked your sock drawer?"

"Why would it be in—oh, thanks."

Scorpius magicked the tie into the air, where it folded itself neatly and fell into his open trunk.

"You should have just packed last night, like I did," Rose said, lounging back on his bed. "Then you'd be done too and we could spend our last here down by the lake with Albus and the rest."

"Shut up," Scorpius said, throwing her a fond look. "Just help me find my—"

"Under the bed," She said in a bored voice.

Scorpius bent down and reached an arm out to snag his favorite scarf.

"How did you know where that was?"

"I guess I just know you."

"Yeah, I guess," He said, reaching over and ruffling her curls.

She sat up in protest and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything he bent down and kissed her soundly, threading his fingers through her hair and marveling that he _could_ kiss her this way.

He pulled back, and she sighed happily.

"You can't just kiss me every time you don't want me to yell at you," she said, trying to sound angry and failing.

Scorpius smirked, and bent to pick up the scarf from the floor, where it had fallen through his fingers.

"It seems to be working well," He said, fitting the scarf in his trunk and closing it with a final thud.

"There," He said, "I'm finished, and now we can go to the lake."

A little sob came from behind him.

"Rosie?"

He sat beside her, looping an arm around her waist and tucking her head firmly under his chin.

"What's wrong?" He crooned, rocking her slightly.

"Nothing," She hiccupped, "I'm just going to miss this place."

"I know," He sighed, "Me too."

"This is really it, isn't it? We're not coming back here again. It's never going to be like this, with these people, sitting in the common room and complaining about homework and laughing and talking."

"I don't know," Scorpius said, "We'll still see people, at least the ones that are important to us. And you and me and Albus will still spend as much time together as ever, I'm sure of it. Especially with Elsie still in school, Albus will be hanging around all the time. We'll probably be dead sick of him."

Rose gave a shaky little laugh and a squeeze, and then stood, facing him and holding both his hands in hers.

"Thanks, Scorp," She whispered, "You're a good boyfriend."

He smiled, barely able to contain his happiness at her words.

"I am your boyfriend, aren't I?"

"Of course, silly, what else would I call you?"

"I dunno, it's just good to hear."

They were quiet for a moment, drinking in each other, absorbing the moment.

"Rosie?" Scorpius asked carefully.

"Hmm?"

"Mother's taking me apartment shopping when we get back. Just something simple in London near St. Mungo's, because my internship starts in just a few weeks. Maybe a place with an extra bedroom in case Al needs to crash, or something. I was wondering… well, would you like to come look at flats with me?"

Rose's eyes grew wide. "Scorp, you're not asking…"

"No! No, I don't think we're quite ready for _that!_ But I thought maybe, in a few years, when you're settled at the ministry and I've got a proper job as a healer, that maybe we could talk about it then. And it would make it simpler if you already liked the place. And even if you don't _ever_ want to move in, I still value your opinion, and you'll probably be spending quite a bit of time—"

This time it was he who was silenced with a long kiss.

"You can't just kiss me every time you want me to stop talking," He teased.

"I'll come flat shopping with you," She said, her eyes shining. "I think it's a brilliant idea."

There was a pause, and she narrowed her eyes, suddenly ice blue and cold.

"You told your mother about us?"

"Rose, just because you don't want to tell your parents that we're seeing each other doesn't mean I can't tell mine. They're both thrilled, by the way, and I even made them promise not to breathe a word of it to any member of your family that they happened to see. Although I still think that it's a bit ridiculous that it's been four months and none of your family knows."

"Albus knows."

"Albus knows," Scorpius said, feeling that they had already had this argument at least three times, "Because he walked up on us snogging. And besides, he's my dorm mate, and your best cousin. It was bound to come out."

"Everybody here knows," Rose snapped, "Lily and Hugo and all the rest. I'm sure they've even told James."

"Alright, but you told them all you'd curse them into next February if they even hinted to anybody outside of Hogwarts, excluding James, that things were any different between us than they were when they all saw us at Christmas time."

"And none of them would know," Rose said, "If you could keep your hands off of me for more than five minutes."

"If I remember correctly," Scorpius said wryly, "You weren't complaining."

"Fine," Rose conceded, "I can see that it would be silly to try to hide our relationship from everybody we go to school with, even though I'm related to about half the people here."

"Personally, I think that it's silly to try to hide it from anybody."

"Yes, Scorpius, you've made that abundantly clear."

Rose sighed, and took his hands again.

"Look, Scorp," She said much more gently, "It's just going to be hard. They like you, they really do. But especially for my dad… I'm his little girl, he won't like me going out with _anybody_. I think it'll just be better if I have the chance to explain to them in person how I feel, instead of just slipping in an errant sentence in a letter."

"Alright," Scorpius said, still a bit grudgingly. "But we're going to see them tomorrow, so I hope you've prepared a speech for the occasion."

"I'll figure something out," She whispered, leaning in to kiss him again.

"Wait," Scorpius said, holding her at arm's length, "Why can't you write how you feel in a letter?"

Rose blushed. "Well," She said, freeing a hand to run through his smooth hair, "It might be a little awkward to write home and tell them I've fallen in love with their worst enemies son, mightn't it?"


	55. Admission

"Albus Severus Potter, if you do not wipe that smarmy smirk off of your face, you will find yourself travelling to St. Mungo's tomorrow instead of Auror training!"

Albus only grinned wider.

"But Rose, dear," He mocked, looking pointedly from her to Scorpius and then down at their clasped hands, "This in an entirely smirk-worthy occasion!"

"Honestly, Al," Elsie sighed, looking up from her magazine and fixing her boyfriend with a pointed, violet gaze, "Leave them be."

"Thank you, Elsie," Scorpius said, unable to keep himself from grinning a little at the troubled look on his girlfriend's face.

Rose sniffed, and glared at her cousin.

"Rosie," He sighed, sitting up a bit straighter and staring at her, "Don't blame me for your predicament. Or Scorp, either, because he's bloody stupid, but he told you to tell them as soon as it happened."

"Thanks, mate," Scorp said drily.

"What was I supposed to tell them?" Rose wailed suddenly. "Oh, guess what mum and day, after years of protesting that Scorp is my friend and nothing more… we're dating?"

Albus snorted. "Sounds about right," He said, "But now you can add to that, 'and we have been for about four months.'"

"Oh, Godric," Rose moaned, "I'm a fool."

"Rose," Elsie said gently, "It can't be all that bad. I'm sure they'll understand! They know Scorpius already, after all, and like him. I'm sure they won't be angry with you."

"No," Albus corrected, "They wouldn't have been angry with her four months ago. They'll be angry with her now for having lied to them for half a year."

Elsie pursed her lips, as if to say that he might have a point.

"If it were me," Albus went on, "I wouldn't have _wanted_ to tell them in person. I would have sent them an Owl straight off, and then even if they didn't like it, they would have had all year to accept it before you got home. I don't know why you wanted to tell them in person. It's a lot harder to be hexed through the mail."

Rose paled visibly, and Scorpius shot Albus a glare.

"Right," He said pointedly, "Thanks."

"Maybe we should go," Elsie suggested hastily, "Lily said she wanted us to come sit with her for a bit and we're almost to London."

"Really _quite_ close to London," Al repeated with a cheeky grin.

"Goodbye!" Elsie called hastily, and dragged Al out of the train compartment after her.

Scorpius gave her hand a little squeeze, and they sat in silence, listening to the rhythm of the train.

"Rose?" Hugo poked his head around the door. "I just ran into Albus in the hall… you gonna be okay?"

"Hugo," Rose said seriously, "If they kill me, you can have my things. Well, not my clothes, Lily can have those."

"Honestly, I don't think Lily wants your clothes."

Scorpius rolled his eyes, and Hugo quickly corrected himself: "I mean, she won't have them, because there's no way they'll kill you."

"You think so?"

"As the only other person on the planet who has been raised by mum and dad, I solemnly swear that I do not believe that they would actually kill their only daughter."

"Honestly, I think you're being a bit dramatic about the whole thing," Scorpius volunteered.

Rose sighed deeply. "I didn't actually think they would _kill_ me," She conceded, "But they still have the potential to become very, _very_ angry with me. And you. And us."

"Right," Hugo said, quickly, "That's not… very likely? Anyway, I was supposed to tell you that King's Cross was five minutes out about four minutes ago. Cheers!"

They hear the train whistle shriek as they entered into London, and felt the train slow more and more quickly.

"Right," Rose said grimly, once the train had stopped moving and they could hear kids rushing about in the corridors, "This is it."

"You look like you're going into battle," Scorpius laughed, swinging their bags down, "Not going to see your parents."

He followed Rose out through the throngs of people and down onto the platform, bypassing the hoard of students swarming for trunks.

"Nice of Al to offer to get our trunks," Rose commented.

Scorpius hummed his agreement. He knew when Albus had volunteered, grinning broadly, to find their trunks and meet them later that he didn't want to delay Rose's meeting with the Weasley clan, hoping that any yelling would have escalated by the time he arrived.

"Rose," Scorpius said seriously, pulling her out of sight of the waiting throngs of people, behind an old column, "I love you, and I'll be here no matter what happens."

Rose smiled, a little shyly. "I love you, too," She whispered, leaning up to capture his lips.

It was remarkably easy to forget, even as people rushed around them, where they were, and the kiss grew quickly more passionate.

"Scorp," Rose whispered throatily as he pressed her back into the column and kissed his way down her collar-bone. She threaded her fingers through his silky hair and pulled his mouth back up to hers.

He trailed a hand down her side, past the swell of her breast and over her waist and hip, to grasp the shapely calf that she had twined up the back of his leg and hitch her leg around his hip.

She sighed happily, and leaned up to kiss him again.

And then a large, heavy hand came down upon his shoulder and pulled him, none too gently, out of Rose's embrace.

"Dad!" She said, disheveled and startled.

Ron looked between the pair of them, growing redder by the minute. Over his shoulder, Scorpius could see Hermione, looking worried, standing a few paces back.

"Right," Ron finally growled, "Keep your hands off of my daughter in public, got it?"

"Yes," Scorpius said, nodding fervently, "Sorry."

Ron looked as if he would like to say something else, but was, with great difficulty, restraining himself.

Hermione took a few hesitant steps forward, and slipped her hand into her husband's. He exhaled sharply, and seemed to relax, if only fractionally.

"Rose?" Hermione questioned gently.

"Mum, I have something to tell you."

"Yeah, I think we've got it," Ron said gruffly.

There was an awkward pause.

"I can't say I didn't see it coming," Ron groused suddenly, "But I swear to Merlin, if you hurt her, I will send every Auror I can spare to hunt you down."

"I won't," Scorpius said quietly.

"And… and keep your hands to yourselves in public!" He finished triumphantly. "Now, where are your trunks?"

Hermione opened her arms to her daughter, and Rose, relieved, nearly fell into them.

"I'm very happy for you, darling," Hermione whispered in her ear, "He's liked you for ages."

"I've liked him for ages," Rose answered, pulling back and grinning brightly, "I just didn't know how to tell you!"

Her face sobered. "Mum," She asked quietly, "Is dad _very_ angry with us?"

Hermione laughed. "No, but he'll pretend for a while. You're his daughter, after all, the only one he's got. He likes Scorpius, though."

Hermione leaned her head in to whisper in her daughter's ear. "He's mostly angry it didn't happen before Christmas, because now he owes your Aunt Ginny ten galleons!"

Rose laughed, and then, with her family on one side and her parents on the other, left Platform 9 and ¾ for the last time.


	56. Epilogue: Nineteen Years Later

Wow, so after three years, here are six hundred words :/

Basically, this fic is very near and dear to my heart, but it's been THIS CLOSE to being finished for so long. This work is special to me for a number of reasons, but I truly don't feel that this represents my best writing, anymore-it's been years since I started writing this-and I'm ready to leave it behind. I didn't feel tooooooo bad about leaving it, because that was truly the end point of this fic. Things were resolved. But this was always meant to have an epilogue, which kept me from marking it as complete for so long, and it feels so good to finally do it.

If you're still with this fic, God bless. Seriously, I am the actual worst. I know this isn't too exciting... but what's a Harry Potter Fic without a good 'Nineteen Years Later' epilogue?

Housecleaning: Still don't own anything Harry Potter related. Still not writing for profit. Also, I'm planning on cross posting this to my AO3 account (same pen name) and that's a recently edited version which means nothing but that some silly typos were fixed and a couple of the very worst lines were trimmed. Not hugely different. Still, if you're planning on re-reading or if that's your preferred format, I would recommend checking out that version instead. Also have been writing in present tense for pretty much everything recently, and transitioning back was so hard, hopefully I didn't miss any tense changes.

I hope you enjoy reading the final (for real) ending of this story as much as I enjoyed writing it-if you don't believe that this was always meant to happen, know that I've been carrying around a hand-written next-next-gen family tree for four years in the bottom of a pencil case. So. About one-quarter of that actually made it into this chapter... but it's the thought.

Thank you to everybody who has been so kind to me and this fic-your reviews, follows, favorites, etc. truly touched me and did EVENTUALLY motivate me to get off my ass and grind out the final words to this epic saga.

And of course, I couldn't leave without one final, epic author's note. Thank you all so much for your support.

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><p>NINETEEN YEARS LATER<p>

"It's strange to be back here again, isn't it?" Scorpius asked, pushing a trolley through the barrier and stepping onto Platform 9 ¾.

"Scorp," Rose said, "We've been back here every year since Al saw Henry off, and that was three years ago."

"I know," Scorpius admitted. He dropped the trolley handle to take her hand. "But this is where it all started, isn't it? Where I saw you for the first time?"

"Ugh, dad," Leo said, rolling grey eyes, "Honestly, I'm glad I'm leaving again. Disgusting."

"It's true," Risoria piped up from Rose's other side, "They're even worse when you're gone, Leo. That's why I'm so glad I get to go to school this year, too." Her blue-eyed gaze was steady, but Scorpius knew how nervous she was to start school.

"You'll be wonderful, Ri," he assured her, "You have nothing to worry about. And your bother's been for two years already, he'll look out for you. Not to mention all your other cousins."

Leo caught a pointed look from his mother, and said, not insincerely, "You'll be fine. I won't let anything happen."

Scorpius smiled at him.

"Is the sorting very scary?" His daughter whispered. He crouched down to be on level with her.

"Not at all, love." He reached out to smooth a lock of white-blonde hair. "And we don't care a whit what house you're in. Whether it's Gryffindor, like Leo…"

"Even Slytherin, like Grandma and Grandpa Malfoy," Rose added gravely.

"Even Slytherin?" Risoria narrowed her eyes. "What about Hufflepuff?" She asked suspiciously.

Leo snorted. Scorpius and Rose both turned chastising looks on him.

"Even Hufflepuff," Scorpius told her.

"Dad," Leo said, "I see Henry. I'm gonna go get on the train."

"Save your sister a seat," Rose told him, "And yes, you have to."

"Fine," Leo grumbled. He gave each of his parents a perfunctory hug. "See you later. Yes, mum, I'll owl."

"Have a good year, Leo," Rose said, darting in to kiss his cheek. He groaned, and wiped it with the back of his hand. "Love you."

"Love you, too," Leo muttered, and Scorpius watched his red hair disappear into the crowd.

"Tess is over there, too," Rose said gently, motioning to Albus and Elsie down the platform, standing with their own children. Leo suddenly appeared at their side, sidling up to his cousin, Henry, "It's so nice that you're in the same year."

Risoria nodded bravely.

"You can write us every day, if you want," Scorpius told her. "But you'll have friends in no time. Look how many people you already know!"

"I'll be fine," Risoria said determinedly. She squared her tiny jaw.

"We love you," Rose said, sweeping her into a hug, "I told Great-Grandma Weasley to send you some of your favorite treats by owl. They'll be there before you know it."

There was a dark haired boy at the other end of the platform, watching with interest. His younger sister clung to his mother's leg. He wasn't listening to anything his father said to him.

The train gave a last warning whistle.

"I love you, Ri," Scorpius whispered into her ear when he bent down to hug her, himself.

"Love you, daddy," She said, and then took hold of the trolley herself and leaned with all her weight to start it rolling.

Scorpius slung an arm around Rose, and watched her go.

Steam rolled down the platform, and by the time it cleared, Risoria had made it onto the train. Scorpius saw her leaning out of a window halfway down the train, and was surprised to see Leo's red head making an appearance, as well.

He lifted his hand to wave them off, and Rose sighed.

"Can't believe they're off to Hogwart's already," She said, and waved, too.

"Seems like yesterday," Scorpius agreed.

Together, he and Rose watched the Hogwart's Express pull out of the station.


End file.
